Inside The Huskies

Ousted Hawaii Coach Gib Arnold Says He's Joining Sprinkle Staff

He's the second person with a complicated past to come to UW basketball.

Dan Raley

Hawaii coach Gib Arnold works the sideline. He will join the UW this season.
Hawaii coach Gib Arnold works the sideline. He will join the UW this season. / Marco Garcia-Imagn Images

The University of Washington basketball program under Danny Sprinkle is becoming known as a place that offers career second chances, with Gib Arnold becoming the second coach who ran afoul of the NCAA to join Sprinkle's staff.

Arnold, 55, was fired as the Hawaii coach in 2014 after he was accused of offering improper benefits to players who were subsequently ruled ineligible. More recently an NBA scout, he posted on social media on Friday that he had accepted a support role for the UW -- as director of performance. The school has offered no confirmation yet.

He'll work in Montlake alongside Tony Bland, the former USC assistant coach who pleaded guilty in 2019 to conspiracy to commit bribery for providing payments from a basketball shoe company to a pair of Trojans players' families. Before joining the UW,, Bland, 44, coached high school and AAU basketball teams in Southern California.

Arnold coached the Rainbow Warriors for four seasons before losing his job, compiling 19-13, 16-16, 17-15 and 20-11 records, with the latter seasons adjusted to 1-15 and 0-11 once all of the NCAA penalties were meted out and 36 wins were vacated. He lost his job in late October before the 2014-15 season began.

Arnold is the son of Frank Arnold, who coached BYU in 1975-83, took Danny Ainge-led teams to the NCAA tournament, won WAC championships and compiled a 137-94 record. The older Arnold also coached Hawaii for two seasons, but resigned in 1987 after two seasons that didn't work and suffering through a composite 11-45 record. He died this past June at 89.

Twenty-three years later, Gabe Arnold became the Hawaii coach, same as his dad, before things got complicated.

Arnold posted a video on social media in which he walked through Alaska Airlines Arena, took a 360-degree video of the facility and said the UW job was official.

"So this is my new home," he said on his video clip.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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