PaulSanderford

Class of 2022

  • Collegiate coach for 26 seasons at Western Kentucky, Nebraska, and Louisburg College
  • Compiled a career winning percentage of .748 with 616 games won over his collegiate coaching career and as a Division I coach, 453-189 (.706)
  • As head coach at Louisburg College in Louisburg, North Carolina (1977-1981), he led the program to the 1981 NJCAA National Championship and the same year earned the Wade Trophy, given to the National Junior College Coach of the Year
  • Sanderford was 163-19 in his six years as head coach of Louisburg women’s basketball program, and named the Region X Coach of the Year for four consecutive years, additionally named Outstanding Coach at the National Tournament in 1981
  • Vice President of the NJCAA Coaches Organization from 1981 to 1982 and inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame in 2000
  • At Western Kentucky University, he amassed 365 victories and a .753 winning percentage (1982-97), posting 12 seasons with 20 plus victories. Is a school-record of 32 victories during the 1985-86 season, 14 postseasons appearances – 12 NCAA tournaments, and the program’s three Final Four trips (1985,1986,1992), with the team advancing all the way to the National Championship game against Stanford (1992)
  • The Western Kentucky University Lady Hilltoppers won 15 NCAA Tournament games, advancing four times to the Sweet Sixteen
  • Coached the Western Kentucky University team to five Sun Belt Conference regular-season championships and seven Sun Belt Conference tournament titles.
  • Sun Belt Coach of the Year honors three times (1982-83,1985-86, and 1990-91) while coaching seven All-Americans
  • Inducted into the WKU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008
  • Head Coach at the University of Nebraska (1997-2002), compiling an overall record of 88-69, ranking him as the second-winningest coach in school history
  • Guided the Cornhuskers to three consecutive NCAA Tournament bids, which doubled the previous number of NCAA bids by the school
  • In 1998, he was the Big 12 Coach of the Year while coaching at The University of Nebraska
  • Along with the success on the court while at Nebraska, Sanderford earned unprecedented fan support, setting a school record with an average home attendance of 5,000 fans per game (1999-2000), the program set school records in his first three seasons, and ranked the top 25 teams nationally in home attendance in each of his first four years
  • He retired in 2007