Paul Sather enters his ninth year at the helm for the Wolves in 2018-19. Sather, who is the 22nd head men’s basketball coach at Northern State, is a 1996 graduate of NSU. Sather has compiled a 162-82 record while at Northern.
He led the Wolves to back-to-back NSIC Overall, North Division, and Tournament Championships this season, finishing the league schedule with an 18-4 record in 2018-19. Sather was named the back-to-back NSIC Coach of the Year. Northern closed out the regular season, leading the NSIC in scoring defense, scoring margin, 3-point field goal percentage defense, and assists. In addition, NSU sat sixth nationally in 3-point field goal percentage. Northern finished the season with a 26-7 record overall and qualified for the second straight NCAA Tournament. In addition Ian Smith, Justin Decker, and Gabe King were named to the NSIC All-Conference teams, while Smith also tallied NABC All-District honors.
Sather brought the program to new heights in 2017-18 with the Wolves finishing at the NCAA National Finalist after just the second trip to the NCAA Elite Eight in school history. The runner-up finish is the highest for any NSU team to date at the NCAA Division II level. Northern broke the single season school record for wins going 36-6 on the year, while tying the school record with 18 consecutive victories in the opening months of the season. He was named both the NSIC and NABC Central Region Coach of the year. Four Wolves were named to the NSIC All-Conference teams (Smith, Pollard, Peterka, Doyle), while Ian Smith was named to the NABC and D2CCA All-Region teams.
Sather recorded the first conference championship of his coaching career, and the first for Northern State since the 2002-03 season. Northern then went on to win the NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament, notching the first championship for the program since 2005. The Wolves finished the regular season leading the NSIC in scoring defense (66.8), scoring margin (+14.6), field goal percentage defense (43.5), and rebounding margin (+9.3). Northern ranks nationally sitting top-20 in scoring defense (66.1) and rebounding margin (+7.8), top-10 in scoring margin (+14.1), and top-5 in field goal percentage (51.2).
In 2016-17 the Wolves finished tied for second in the overall league standings with Southwest Minnesota State, finishing 22-8 overall and 17-5 in the NSIC. Three Wolves garnered All-NSIC honors as Logan Doyle was named the NSIC Newcomer of the year and to the NSIC first team, and Ian Smith and Mack Arvidson were named to the NSIC second team. Northern State junior DJ Pollard was named the NSIC Elite 18 recipient holding the top GPA from the NSIC Championships with a 3.96 mark.
In his sixth season at the helm Sather landed two on the All-NSIC second team in senior Skye Warwick and junior Darin Peterka. The Wolves also tallied an upset victory over then No. 1 Augustana 90-81.
In 2014-15 he led the Wolves to their first NCAA Regional appearance since the 2008-09 season. Sather and the Wolves went 23-9 on the year with a fourth place finish in the NSIC, and second place finish in the NSIC North. Seniors Seth Bachand and Tydan Storrusten were named to the NSIC First and Second Team’s in 2014-15.
In 2012-13, Sather led Northern to its first 20-win season since 2007-08. The Wolves went 20-11 overall and their 14 conference wins in ‘12-’13, was the first time since 2008-09 that the Wolves had double-digit NSIC victories.
In his short tenure with the Wolves, Sather has also coached nine 1,000-point scorers at NSU in Collin Pryor, Dustin Tetzlaff, Seth Bachand, Skye Warwick, DJ Pollard, Mack Arvidson, Darin Peterka, Carter Evans, and Ian Smith.
Prior to arriving back in Aberdeen, Sather spent five years as the head coach at Black Hills State, guiding the Yellow Jackets to a 94-62 record during his time there before returning to NSU.
Sather was instrumental in turning the BHSU program around from a 10-19 season in 2006-07 to an NAIA Final Four contender in 2008-09. The Yellow Jackets also qualified for the national tournament in 2009-10 and compiled an overall conference record of 46-25 in the five years under Sather, including winning two Dakota Athletic Conference championships.
As an assistant for the Wolves in the early years of his career, Sather was a part of three Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) regular season championships and NSU’s first ever NSIC Tournament Championship.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in secondary education in 1996 from Northern State University, he served as physical education teacher and assistant boys’ basketball coach at Sidney High School in Nebraska from 1996-1997. The following year he was a graduate assistant at Wayne State College while he earned his master’s degree in sports administration.
Originally from Princeton, Minn., Sather had a stellar career collegiate career as a Wolf from 1990-1994. He was team captain for the NSU when they earned back-to-back national runner-up finishes in 1993 and 1994.
Sather resides in Aberdeen with his wife Kelsie and their two children, Sam and Becca.
| Paul Sather Year-By-Year |
|
|
Overall |
Conference |
|
| Year |
School |
W |
L |
W |
L |
Finish |
| 2005-10 |
Black Hills State |
94 |
62 |
46 |
25 |
-- |
| 2010-11 |
Northern State |
12 |
14 |
7 |
14 |
T10th |
| 2011-12 |
Northern State |
13 |
13 |
9 |
13 |
T8th |
| 2012-13 |
Northern State |
20 |
11 |
14 |
8 |
T5th |
| 2013-14 |
Northern State |
18 |
11 |
13 |
9 |
8th |
| 2014-15 |
Northern State |
23 |
9 |
15 |
7 |
4th |
| 2015-16 |
Northern State |
18 |
12 |
13 |
9 |
4th |
| 2016-17 |
Northern State |
22 |
8 |
17 |
5 |
T2nd |
| 2017-18*% |
Northern State |
36 |
4 |
20 |
2 |
1st |
| 2018-19* |
Northern State |
26 |
7 |
18 |
4 |
1st |
| Total |
|
282 |
151 |
172 |
96 |
|
* NSIC Coach of the Year
% NABC Central Region Coach of the Year
