Danny Sprinkle and his Washington Huskies are most likely out of quality games left in the season. They have a few quad-2 opponents that could still help their resume, but no quad-1 games (unless something drastically changes). The Huskies are 1-9 in quad-1 games and just don't have a very solid NCAA Tournament resume. After losing to UCLA last night, Husky fans are starting to turn on Danny Sprinkle and are ready for a new coach.
However, Sprinkle still has a little bit of rope left even if he's dangling right now. There are three reasons that Washington will run it back again next year, even if this year, continues a downward slide and no NCAA Tournament birth.
1. His buyout is much too large to eat
This may feel very reminiscent of Mike Hopkins, and riding his contract out, but Danny Sprinkle is only in his second season. He signed a six-year contract that was pretty comparable to other Big Ten coaches. Even if Washington waits until the end of the season, his buyout would still be at $4 Million. The following year, it's still $3 million, but then it drops to $1 million.
It's doubtful that Washington would pull the plug yet, and not just for the buyout but these other two reasons too.
2. Injuries have derailed this season
Danny Sprinkle has been working with a patchwork starting five and rotational depth all season. Injuries have hurt so badly that he's had to adjust plans at tip-time. It's hard to get much momentum when your plans unravel. He built a pretty solid roster on paper, and Husky fans will never get to see how solid it actually was because 10 different players throughout the year appeared on the injury report, and he's already lost multiple players for the season.
That's just not a formula for winning, and it's derailed the season. For this reason alone, Sprinkle deserves a third year.
3. This year was still a step forward for the program
Danny Sprinkle inherited nothing, and sure, it feels frustrating right now while the team is 12-12 and most likely not going to make the tournament. Especially, when other new coaches have turned it around quicker (Iowa's Ben McCollum). That being said, this year is already better than last year (unless UW loses out).
Last season, the Huskies only had 13 wins total and lost six games in a row to end the season. The opposite could be true for UW this year. They are already at 12 and only need two more to end the season. They have the easiest remaining Big Ten schedule left. Four of the opponents are north of 100 in the NET: Penn State, Maryland, Rutgers, and Oregon. Those all should be wins.
Then there's Minnesota, which pulled off a massive upset of Michigan State, but mostly has been bad this season. They are NET 73, and that should be a win. That's four wins right there, pull together a win from the final quad-2 opponents in Wisconsin or USC, and it's a home run end to the season.
Let's be real, the seat is getting hot, and Danny Sprinkle should feel it, but he's got a little life left in the deal and some excuses in the tank to run it back next season.