Head men’s basketball coach Danny Sprinkle has announced the hiring of Andy Hill and Chris Haslam as assistant coaches on his staff at Utah State. They had both previously served under Sprinkle at Montana State.
Andy Hill
During the 2022-23 campaign, Hill helped lead Montana State to a 25-10 overall record and its second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance. It marked the first time the Bobcats had back-to-back 20-win seasons since 1994-96. Three Bobcats earned all-conference honors, while two players garnered individual accolades (Defensive Player of the Year and Top Reserve). Two Montana State players earned all-tournament honors, including Big Sky Tournament MVP RaeQuan Battle.
Prior to Montana State, Hill served as the assistant coach at New Mexico in 2021-22. During his lone season in Albuquerque, he helped the Lobos see a seven-win improvement, from six wins the year before to 13 wins, despite playing half its games against NCAA and NIT competition. The Lobos, who led the Mountain West in scoring, defeated four NCAA Tournament teams during the season, their most wins over teams in the tournament in seven years. A win over No. 22 Wyoming was the Lobos’ first ranked victory in three years.
Hill also served as an assistant coach at Utah for 10 seasons. At Utah, Hill helped lead the Utes to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2015 and 2016, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2015. In his tenure with the Utes, Hill also helped guide his teams to three NIT appearances, including an NIT runner-up finish in 2018.
During his time at Utah, Hill was part of a staff that developed three-consecutive first-round NBA Draft pics in Delon Wright (2015 Pac-12 First-Team All-Conference), Jakob Poeltl (2016 Pac-12 Player of the Year) and Kyle Kuzma (2017 First-Team All-Conference). During that stretch, the Utes were the only Pac-12 school to produce a first-round draft pick in three-consecutive years.
Hill helped the Utes to five-consecutive 20-plus win seasons while also helping them to finish in the top four of the Pac 12 standings five times.
Prior to his tenure at Utah, Hill was an assistant coach at Montana for seven years where he helped lead the Grizzlies to three NCAA Tournament appearances. He was also a member of the 2005-06 coaching staff that helped Montana to its first NCAA Tournament game since 1975.
While at Montana, Hill helped guide the Grizzlies to the Big Sky Conference Tournament Championship game in four of his seven seasons. He helped coordinate Montana’s Roundball Club annual coaching clinics and fundraising efforts, and was also responsible for scheduling games, camps and recruiting. In addition, he organized community service events with the Missoula community and the state of Montana.
Hill began his coaching career at Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington, from 2000-01, where he worked for legendary coach Warren Friedrichs. Early in his career, he also coached at Lewis-Clark State College (2001-03), where he helped the Warriors to the NAIA National Tournament before serving as a graduate assistant at Eastern Washington (2003-04). The year he was at Eastern Washington, the Eagles won the Big Sky Conference.
The son of a former coach, Hill graduated from Eastern Washington in 2000 with a degree in education. He has one son, Garrett.
Chris Haslam
During the 2022-23 campaign, Haslam helped lead Montana State to a 25-10 overall record and its second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance. It marked the first time the Bobcats had back-to-back 20-win seasons since 1994-96. Three Bobcats earned all-conference honors, while two players garnered individual accolades (Defensive Player of the Year and Top Reserve). Two Montana State players earned all-tournament honors, including Big Sky Tournament MVP RaeQuan Battle.
The Bobcats finished the 2021-22 campaign at 27-8 overall with a trip to the NCAA Tournament. MSU claimed both the Big Sky Conference regular season and conference tournament titles, signifying just the second time the program has ever achieved the feat and the first time in 26 years.
Haslam played a large role in the development of Jubrile Belo, who earned three-straight all-Big Sky Conference selections. Belo was named the 2022 Big Sky Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. He ranks among the top 10 all-time in program history in field goal percentage and ranks second in career blocks. Haslam also worked in developing MSU’s forward’s play and the improvement of freshman Great Osobor, who finished the year averaging six points and 4.2 rebounds, including scoring double digits in three-straight games leading to the conference title game.
Haslam recruited a plethora of international talent to the MSU roster, which was made up of 40% of student-athletes from outside the United States in 2019-20, including all-Big Sky First Team selection and captain of the Norwegian national team Harald Frey. In 2020-21, MSU’s six international players accounted for 44 points per game, the second most in all of Division I basketball. The 2021-22 team ranked 10th in international scoring in Division I basketball averaging over 42 points per game.
The veteran coach was recognized by his peers during the 2020 offseason as he was voted as one of the Big Sky Conference’s top five assistant coaches by a selection of the league’s assistants for Stadium Basketball.
Haslam attended Wyoming during his collegiate career and started during most of his sophomore and junior seasons before injuries limited him to 18 games as a senior. After completing his career as a Cowboy in 1997, Haslam enjoyed a 13-year professional career in Greece, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Great Britain. Haslam played for the British national team for 10 years. He coached at Lamar (Colorado) Community College from 2010-13, helping that program to a Region IX title in 2010-11, and was a player-assistant for the professional Everton Tigers (2008-10) and head coach for Everton Academy (2009-10). Haslam earned his bachelor’s degree from Wyoming in 2010. He and his wife Melanie have two daughters.
