Montana State head men’s basketball coach Danny Sprinkle announced that Johnny Hill has joined his staff ahead of the 2022-23 season.
Hill has been part of the college basketball landscape over a decade as either a coach or student-athlete. Hill most recently spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Idaho.
“I think he’s going to be a tremendous asset to our staff,” Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle said. “He has a familiarity with the league being in the Big Sky the last two years at Idaho. He helped recruit a lot of the players they had this past year that were pretty good. Mikey Dixon and Rashad Smith were both at Grand Canyon and followed him there. He worked with coach (Zac) Claus who I have a lot of respect for, so I know he learned a lot about how a program is ran. He obviously was with Dan Majerle at Grand Canyon who had really good success.
“Johnny played at a high level at three different schools. He’s still close with coach (Tim) Jankovich, who recently retired from SMU, who was his coach at Illinois State and he spoke the world of him. I think he’s a really bright, young basketball mind.”
“Excited is an understatement,” Hill said of joining the Montana State coaching staff. “When you’re in the coaching industry, you gain so many experiences with different people. For me, that’s huge. In my playing career, I had the opportunity to play for some outstanding coaches. In this realm of my life, when you get to work with someone like Danny Sprinkle, that’s big time.
“I’ve seen the whole thing from afar when I was at Grand Canyon and we played Montana State, then while coaching at Idaho. I don’t think it’s a coincidence they cut down nets this past year. I think it’s indicative of the type of coach and person he is. So I’m extremely excited to join the program.”
Prior to tenure with the Vandals, Hill served two years as a Special Assistant to the Head Coach and a season as graduate assistant at Grand Canyon. During his three years with the program, the Lopes had a 55-43 record, including a 27-19 record in Western Athletic Conference games.
Hill began his coaching career as an assistant at the University of Northwestern Ohio, also acting as the head coach of the junior varsity team.
Hill began his collegiate playing career at Illinois State, earning the team’s Most Improved Player award. He played two seasons at Texas Arlington, where he was named a team captain and started for the Mavericks. Hill completed his college playing career at Purdue, starting 11 games for a Boilermaker team which was nationally ranked throughout the year. He helped the team earn a five seed in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
“I really like and am working to be well versed and well rounded,” Hill said. “I like to think I have a pretty solid basketball acumen. I’ve gained an appreciation for scouting, but a huge reason for me getting into coaching was because of recruiting and the relationships you develop with players over the course of years. I love that aspect of building meaningful relationships with guys and helping them achieve their dreams and aspirations.”
Hill made the Academic Honor Roll at both Texas Arlington and Purdue. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Texas Arlington before obtaining a master’s degree in technology leadership and innovation from Purdue.
Hill joins Montana State Men’s Basketball staff
Photo Courtesy Montana State Athletics
