Courtesy of Utah State Athletics
LOGAN, Utah – Utah State men’s basketball head coach Danny Sprinkle has been named the recipient of the Jim Phelan Award Mid-Season honors it was announced on Thursday.
Sprinkle, in his first year at the helm of the Aggie program, has led USU to a 13-1 start which is the best under a first-year Utah State head coach in program history. The Aggies have won 12-straight games, which is tied for the fourth-longest active streak in the nation and the eighth-longest streak in program history.
Utah State entered the 2023-24 season as one of just three teams in the nation returning zero points to its roster. The Aggies also had the second-fewest returning rebounds (0.004 percent) and tied for the second-fewest returning assists (0.003 percent).
Utah State currently ranks in the top 50 in the nation in several categories, including field goal percentage (.505, 10th), defensive 3-point field goal percentage (.269, 11th), scoring margin (+16.50, 20th), assists per game (17.57, 22nd), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.54, 31st), rebounding margin (+6.93, 42nd) and points per game (81.79, 50th).
Graduate senior guard Darius Brown II ranks second in the nation in both assist-to-turnover ratio (6.29) and assists per game (7.64). Junior wing Great Osobor ranks 35th in the nation in defensive rebounds per game (6.50) and 45th in field goal percentage (.582).
The Jim Phelan Award is named in honor of the legendary bow-tied coach who spent his entire head coaching career at Mount Saint Mary’s University.
Phelan graduated from La Salle University in 1951 and played one season in the NBA with the Philadelphia Warriors. After a brief professional career, Phelan went to Mount St. Mary’s as an assistant in 1953. One year later he began his historical career as a head coach.
He led the Mountaineers to 16 Division II NCAA tournaments. Five times they advanced to the Final Four and he led them to the DII National Championship in 1962.
When he retired in 2003, after coaching for 49 years, he had amassed 830 wins (overall record of 830-524) in all divisions. In those 49 years, 19 of his teams amassed 20 or more wins in a season.
In 2008, he was inducted into National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. Phelan passed away on June 15, 2021 at the age of 92 at his home in Emmitsburg, MD.
The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of collegeinsider.com.
The 2024 award will be announced in Phoenix, Arizona, site of the men’s Division I Basketball Championship.
Utah State returns home to host No. 13/14 Colorado State on Saturday, Jan. 6, at 7 p.m. for the Aggies’ conference home opener.
