One of the top defensive minds in college basketball, Doc Sadler returned to Nebraska in 2019 and is in his first season as special assistant to the head coach and his third on the Husker coaching staff. Sadler coordinates the Huskers’ defensive efforts, as NU finished 40th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency in 2020-21.
Sadler, who has over 200 wins as a Division I head coach, returned to Lincoln after serving as the head coach at Southern Miss for five seasons. He helped the Golden Eagles improve their win total in each season since 2014-15, becoming one of three teams in the nation to hold that distinction. Despite two years of postseason bans, scholarship reductions and other inherited sanctions, Sadler guided Southern Miss to back-to-back Conference USA Tournament semifinal appearances in 2018 and 2019. In his final season, he led the Golden Eagles to 20 wins and a C-USA runner-up finish.
He first teamed up with Hoiberg at Iowa State in 2013-14, helping the Cyclones to a 28-8 record, a Sweet 16 appearance and the school’s first Big 12 Tournament title since 2000. He coached a pair of All-Americans in Melvin Ejim and DeAndre Kane, while Ejim was named the Big 12 Player of the Year in 2014.
Sadler served as the head coach of the Nebraska program from 2006 to 2012, leading the Huskers to three NIT appearances and posting a 101-89 record. Sadler’s Huskers led the Big 12 in scoring defense three times and posted nine wins over ranked opponents in his tenure. In 2010-11, the Huskers ranked in the top 20 nationally in both scoring and field-goal percentage defense. NU held opponents to 38.9 percent shooting - the lowest total by Nebraska in 50 years - while playing 19 games against teams which reached postseason play. He coached two Olympians at Nebraska, while his most prominent pupil was Aleks Maric, a two-time All-Big 12 selection who totaled 1,630 points and 1,030 rebounds and finished his career holding 19 school or conference records.
Prior to his stint at Nebraska, Sadler had a phenomenal two-year run as the head coach at UTEP (2004-06), producing a record of 48-18. The Miners won 27 games and advanced to the 2005 NCAA Tournament in his rookie season, the ninth-best win total by a first-year head coach in NCAA history. UTEP won 21 games and advanced to the NIT in his last season in El Paso. He also coached for five seasons at Arkansas-Fort Smith (1999-2003), leading the program to a 120-39 mark and three postseason appearances as head coach.
Sadler, who graduated from Arkansas in 1982, previously worked as an assistant coach at eight current Division I schools, including Arkansas (1982-85, under Eddie Sutton), Lamar (1985-86, under Pat Foster), Houston (1986, under Pat Foster), Chicago State (1987-88, under Tommy Suitts), Texas Tech (1991-94, under James Dickey), Arizona State (1994-97, under Bill Frieder), UTEP (2003-04, under Billy Gillispie) and Iowa State (2013-14, under Hoiberg). He also was Director of Basketball Operations at Kansas in 2012-13 working for Bill Self.
Sadler, who was a four-year student manager at Arkansas under Hall of Fame Coach Eddie Sutton, earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1982 before beginning his collegiate coaching career with Sutton at Arkansas. Sadler added a master’s of science degree in education from Northeastern State in 1991. Sadler and his wife, Tonya, have two sons, Landon and Matthew.
