When Southern Mississippi men's basketball coach Doc Sadler looks back at his coaching career, he considers himself one of the lucky guys.
"I've been fortunate to have had a lot of good opportunities. There are a lot of great coaches out there that haven't gotten opportunities," Sadler said. "I've been blessed to be around a lot of good people and have a lot good of players, and that's been a big part of the success."
The Greenwood, Ark., native has been an assistant and/or head coach at the high school, junior college and NCAA Division I levels of basketball.
He is one of the many coaches and athletics administrators who have played an integral part in building a winning tradition and strong academic reputation that remained strong as Westark College evolved into UAFS and the athletics program transitioned from NJCAA to NCAA Division II.
Sadler will be one of four individuals who will be inducted into the UAFS Lions Athletics Hall of Fame during a special dinner at 6 p.m. on Sunday at the Stubblefield Center. Joining Sadler as part of the 2018 Class will be Greg and Fred Davis, former men's basketball players, and the late Wanda Srygley, a longtime friend of the program.
Guest speaker will be former University of Alabama-Birmingham football player Timothy Alexander, who was the first-ever paraplegic player to receive a NCAA Division I scholarship. Alexander, who was paralyzed from the waist down in a 2006 car accident, is now a fulltime motivational speaker who also serves as the UAB football team's director of character.
"I'm very humbled and honored. This is a great honor," said Sadler, who also was director of athletics at Westark. "There are so many other people that have done more that are probably more deserving."
A 1978 graduate of Greenwood High School, Sadler was a four-year student manager for the Arkansas Razorbacks under coach Eddie Sutton and 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 served on Sutton's staff until 1985, when he joined coach Pat Foster's staff as an assistant coach at Lamar (1985-86) and at Houston (1986).
He left the college coaching ranks in 1986 to coach high school basketball at County Line. During his only season there, he guided the Indians to a 38-7 record. Sadler returned the college coaching ranks following that season, joining coach Tommy Suitts staff at Chicago State.
After one season there, he returned to his hometown area as an assistant coach on coach Bobby Vint's staff at Westark College. During his three seasons as a Lions assistant, he helped guide the Lions to an overall 82-22 record. The Lions finished as undefeated Arkansas Conference champions, Arkansas State Tournament champions and Bi-State-East Conference co-champions his final season as assistant coach.
Following the 1990-91 season, Sadler returned to the NCAA Division I ranks as an assistant coach on coach James Dickey's staff at Texas Tech. He spent three seasons there before joining coach Bill Frieder's staff at Arizona State.
After three seasons at Arizona State, Sadler returned to Westark as an assistant on coach Charles Ripley's staff. Ripley retired following the 1997-98 season, and Sadler was promoted to head coach and director of athletics.
"When I first came back, I only planned to spend the one year here and move back to Division I basketball, but as the season went on, coach Ripley told me that he was going to retire," Sadler said. "I had a lot of talks with President (Joel) Stubblefield, and he was really good at persuading you. Jim Cottrell and I and Mr. Stubblefield had a lot of evening dinners. Mr. Stubblefield had a lot of big plans, and I was excited to be a part of it."
Over the next five seasons, the Lions returned to prominence on the national level under Sadler's guidance. He led the Lions to 120-39 record, four Bi-State East Conference titles, back-to-back NJCAA Region II Tournament titles (2000-01, 2001-02) and back-to-back NJCAA National Tournament appearances (2000-01, 2001-02).
Under Sadler's guidance, the Lions never had a losing season, won 20 or more games four-consecutive seasons and won 30 games twice (2000-01, 2001-02). UAFS finished No. 5 in the nation in 2001 and No. 7 in the nation in 2002.
Sadler, who was twice named NJCAA Region II Coach of the Year, placed a heavy emphasis on academics, too, and during his five seasons as head coach, the Lions boasted a 95-percent graduation rate. During Sadler's final two seasons, each sophomore received a scholarship to a four-year institution, including eight NCAA Division I scholarships.
As director of athletics, Sadler was instrumental in guiding the athletics program through a significant period of growth and expansion that included the addition of volleyball to the program's sports offerings in the late spring of 1998 and the construction of the Stubblefield Center, a 3,000-plus seat arena that has been recognized as one of the top sports venues in NJCAA and NCAA Division II, which opened its doors in January of 2002.
Sadler instilled a winning culture throughout the athletics program, which compiled a 72.4 percent winning percentage across all sports during his tenure as director of athletics.
After five seasons, Sadler left Westark to join the staff of coach Billy Gillispie at the University of Texas-El Paso as an assistant coach. He succeeded Gillispie as Miners head coach after one season.
Sadler's UTEP teams posted 48 wins in his two years as head coach and won 72.7-percent of their games. Including his first season with the Miners as an assistant coach, Sadler helped UTEP to 72 victories over three years, ranking the Miners 20th nationally in victories during that span. The Miners gained three-consecutive postseason appearances with Sadler on the bench.
Sadler made one of the most successful NCAA Division I coaching debuts in college basketball history as his 2004-05 team compiled 27-8 record and earned an NCAA Tournament berth. UTEP won a school-record 14 Western Athletic Conference (WAC) games and its first WAC Tournament title in 15 years to earn the league's automatic bid.
The 27 wins were one win short of the UTEP school record. They also put Sadler in rare territory as the mark still ranks ninth in NCAA history for victories by a first-year NCAA Division I coach.
Following two successful seasons as Miners head coach, Sadler left to become head coach at Nebraska, where he posted a 101-89 record over six seasons with three NIT appearances.
After stints as an assistant coach on coach Bill Self's staff at Kansas and coach Fred Hoiberg's staff at Iowa State, Sadler was named head coach at Southern Mississippi and recently finished his fifth season.
As Golden Eagles head coach, Sadler has compiled a 36-81 overall record, improving the team's win total each season.
Throughout his coaching career, Sadler has signed eight players who went on to play in the NBA – Michael Batiste, Tony Battie, Cory Carr, Mark Davis, Darvin Ham, Eddie House, Jason Sasser and Maurice Jeffers, who is one of five former Westark/UAFS players to reach the NBA.
He's also coached 11 other players who reached the NBA – Greg Anderson, Mario Bennett, Randy Brown, Isaac Burton, Byron Irvin, Joe Klein, Andrew Lang, Ron Riley, Alvin Robertson, Darrell Walker and Rickie Winslow.
