Iowa State Men’s Basketball: Doc Sadler Hired as Assistant Coach

Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas Jayhawks lost another one of their men’s basketball coaches on Friday, this time being swayed over to the Iowa State Cyclones after not receiving an assistant coach position under Bill Self.

Doc Sadler will be coaching with a third Big 12 team since being hired by the Nebraska Cornhuskers in 2006. He spent one season with the Huskers in their inaugural season in the Big Ten before finishing 12-18 (second-last in the conference) and getting let go.

That wasn’t the first time Sadler had to endure a conference realignment. During his first two seasons as head coach with UTEP, the Miners moved from the Western Athletic Conference to Conference USA. He went 48-18 in those two seasons and made it to the first round of the NCAA and NIT tournaments.

Nebraska never made the NCAA Tournament in Sadler’s six seasons as head coach. They made the NIT three times and their longest stay was reaching the second round. His highest mark was 20-13 overall in his second year; the Cornhuskers never finished above .500 in conference play.

Sadler has ambitions to be a head coach again. His departure is not  a surprise; Self hired SMU assistant Jerrance Howard as a third assistant coach instead of Sadler. That position opened up when Joe Dooley took the open head coach position at Florida Gulf Coast.

It may not be a long tenure, and may not exactly replace what T.J. Otzelberger did with the Cyclones, but adding an assistant with head coaching experience and spending a long time in the Big 12 will only help the Iowa State men’s basketball program.

[Sources: Washington Post, Kansas City Star, Wikipedia]