Doc Sadler named new Southern Miss basketball coach

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss Director of Athletics Bill McGillis is proud to announce the hiring of Doc Sadler as the 20th head men's basketball coach in school history. Coach Sadler will be formally introduced at a press conference Thursday, May 1st at noon CT in the first floor main room of the Trent Lott Center on the Hattiesburg campus. The press conference is open to the public and will be video streamed live on SouthernMiss.com

Following the press conference, media members will be able to conduct one-on-one interviews with Coach Sadler and a fan reception will immediately follow the media session. The reception will be held at the main atrium of the Trent Lott Center and will allow fans a chance to meet and mingle with the new Golden Eagle basketball coach. Light refreshments will be served and the event will take place at approximately at 1:30 p.m. Limited parking is available at the Trent Lott Center.

Sadler's resume reads like a who's who of college basketball as he has coached in the Big 12, Big 10, PAC 12, and Conference USA while working under some of the greatest basketball minds in the game including Bill Frieder, Billy Gillispie, Eddie Sutton, Bill Self and Fred Hoiberg. Doc Sadler is known nationally for his recruiting prowess and his development of talent as evidenced by19 current or former NBA players that have been tutored by him. A hallmark of a Sadler coached team is their aggressive hard noise defensive style of play.

"We've hired one of the great coaches in America and a perfect match for Southern Miss in Doc Sadler, " McGillis said. "He is universally respected by his peers and regarded as one of the great coaching minds and recruiters in the country. Importantly, he will be a magnificent fit in our community. Our students, faculty, alumni and fans will love his engaging and genuine personality."

Coach Doc Sadler comes to Southern Miss from Iowa State, where as an assistant coach he helped guide the Cyclones to one of their best seasons ever last year with a 28-8 record, an appearance in the Sweet 16, a Big 12 Conference Tournament Title, and a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

"My family and I are very excited to be joining the Southern Miss family. I look forward to being a part of the unbelievable tradition of the Golden Eagle basketball program and building on the great foundation already in place, "said Sadler. " I can't wait to meet both our players and fans. We're going to do some special things together."

As a head coach, Sadler is no stranger to success as he has guided his teams to nine postseason appearances. Sadler's impressive coaching career spans over 30 years including head coaching stops at three schools (Arkansas-Fort Smith [JC], UTEP, and Nebraska) compiling a 269-146 overall mark.

Sadler is also very familiar with Conference USA as he spent two years as the head coach at UTEP, where his teams produced an outstanding record of 48 wins to only 18 losses. In his first year in El Paso his team won 27 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, the 27 wins ranked as the ninth-best win total ever by a first-year head coach in NCAA history. His 2005-2006 team went on to win 21 games and advanced to the NIT.

Sadler spent six years as the head coach at the University of Nebraska guiding them to three postseason appearances. His 2008 team won 20 games becoming the first team to win 20 games in a season in almost a decade at NU. During his tenure his teams defeated 8 nationally ranked teams.

Sadler received his first head coaching job at Arkansas-Fort Smith (1999-2003). He led the former junior college power to three postseason appearances while posting a 120-39 mark.

Sadler has been part of nine Division I basketball staffs, including Arkansas (1982-85), Lamar (1985-86), Houston (1986), Chicago State (1987-88), Texas Tech (1991-94), Arizona State (1994-97) UTEP (2003-04), Kansas (2012) and Iowa State (2012-2014)

"I couldn't be happier for Doc, but we will miss him greatly here at Iowa State. Much of our success this past year was because of Doc's influence on our team," stated Iowa State men's basketball coach Fred Hoiberg. "Southern Miss is getting an excellent basketball coach and an even better person who will do special things for the program."

A native of Greenwood, Ark., Sadler is a 1982 graduate of Arkansas, working four years as a student manager for the Razorbacks under Coach Eddie Sutton. He received his master's degree in education from Northeastern State in 1991. Sadler and his wife, Tonya, have two sons, Landon and Matthew.