Doc Sadler

Doc Sadler (born June 12, 1960)

Current position: Senior advisor for men’s basketball
Current team: Kansas Jayhawks (Head coach: Bill Self)
Current conference: Big 12 Conference
Teams coached: Arkansas-Fort Smith Lions, UTEP Miners, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Southern Miss Golden Eagles
Arkansas-Fort Smith record: 120-39 (.755)
UTEP record: 48-18 (.727)
Nebraska record: 101-89 (.532)
Southern Miss record: 56-93 (.376) **
Overall record^: 325-239 (.576) **

Career Accomplishments:

  • NCAA National Championships:  0
  • NCAA Tournament Appearances:  1  (2005)
  • NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen:  0
  • NIT Championships:  0
  • NIT Appearances:  4  (2006, 2008, 2009, 2011)
  • CBI Appearances:  1  (2019)
  • WAC Tournament Champion:  1  (2005)

Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):

2023-present Kansas (senior advisor)
2022-2023 Oklahoma (special advisor)
2021-2022 Nebraska (special asst)
2019-2021 Nebraska (asst)
2014-2019 Southern Miss
2013-2014 Iowa State (asst)
2012-2013 Kansas (DBO)
2006-2012 Nebraska
2004-2006 UTEP
2003-2004 UTEP (asst)
1998-2003 Arkansas-Fort Smith
1997-1998 Arkansas-Fort Smith (asst)
1994-1997 Arizona State (asst)
1991-1994 Texas Tech (asst)
1988-1991 Arkansas-Fort Smith (asst)
1987-1988 Chicago State (asst)
1986 Houston (asst)
1985-1986 Lamar (asst)
1982-1985 Arkansas (asst)

Doc Sadler Facts

  • Kenneth Lee Sadler
  • Born June 12, 1960
  • Hometown: Greenwood, Arkansas
  • Alma Mater: University of Arkansas (BA, 1982) / Northeastern State University (MS, 1991)
  • Was a student manager for the Arkansas men’s basketball team under head coach Eddie Sutton
    • Hired by Sutton as an assistant coach after graduating, staying on the UA staff for three more seasons
  • Spent a number of years as an assistant coach, including stints under Pat Foster, Tommy Suitts, James Dickey and Bill Frieder
  • Worked for five seasons as both the head coach and athletic director at Division II Arkansas-Fort Smith
  • After one season as one of Billy Gillispie‘s assistants at UTEP, Sadler took over as head coach in 2004
    • The Miners went 25-7 and won the WAC Tournament in his first year and 21-10 in his second
  • Became the head coach at Nebraska in 2006, winning 101 games over six seasons and making three NITs
    • The program joined the Big Ten starting in 2011-12, but Sadler was fired following that season
  • Spent one year as Bill Self‘s director of basketball ops at Kansas and one as an assistant at Iowa State under Fred Hoiberg
  • Hired as the new head coach at Southern Miss in 2014
    • Won 56 games in five seasons, not including six wins vacated from his first season due to the use of an ineligible player
    • Reached the postseason just once, the 2019 CBI, as part of his best season at USM (20-13)
  • Resigned in April 2019 after five seasons in Hattiesburg and rejoined Hoiberg as an assistant at Nebraska
    • Spent two total seasons in Lincoln, the second as special assistant to the head coach
  • In November 2022, Sadler joined the staff at Oklahoma as a special advisor to head coach Porter Moser
  • Reunited with Bill Self in August 2023, becoming the senior advisor for men’s basketball at Kansas

Doc Sadler Coaching Tree

 

^ overall record includes head coaching positions at the NCAA Division I and Division II levels

** Listed records and accomplishments for this coach do not include wins or appearances later vacated by the NCAA