Nebraska basketball coach Doc Sadler was fired Friday, a day after the Huskers were knocked out of the Big Ten Conference Tournament.
The 79-61 defeat to Purdue was the 11th double-digit loss of the season, which finished with just four Big Ten victories.
“I have decided to make a change in the basketball program,” NU Athletic Director Tom Osborne said at a press conference Friday afternoon. “I’ve had to do some difficult things in my lifetime and I’d say this is as difficult as any of them. Doc Sadler is a good man, an honorable man and I consider him to be a good friend.”
Sadler spoke to reporters for about five minutes after Osborne finished. He was visibly emotional, having to leave the room for a moment while holding back tears.
“Obviously you’re not looking one of the smarter guys in this business,” Sadler said. “But you’re looking at a guy that … that tried.”
Sadler finished his career at Nebraska with 101-89 record in six seasons. Sadler only once coached the Huskers to a .500 conference record, going 8-8 in the Big 12 in 2009.
In his six seasons at NU, Sadler led the Huskers to four winning seasons and three NIT appearances.
“Six years ago when I came here, I meant what I said,” Sadler said. “And that meant I came here to do a job. This is where I wanted to be. That hadn’t changed until today.”
There was a lot of optimism surround the program with the move to the Big Ten at the beginning of the season. The Huskers added state-of-the-art basketball facilities this year and are prepared to move in to a new downtown arena in 2013.
“I thought personally that this would be Doc’s best team,” Osborne said. “It looked pretty promising at the start of the year.”
But throughout the season, Sadler’s team seemed overmatched in the physical Big Ten. The Huskers ended their season losers of nine of their last 10 games.
Nebraska finished last in the Big Ten in points scored, scoring margin and field goal percentage defense.
“I know the reason I made the decision because there comes a point in every athletic program and every team where you either begin to build to momentum and things begin to look brighter or you begin to lose momentum,” Osborne said. “When you start losing momentum then recruiting gets more and more difficult.”
Sadler’s contract was extended last March to June 30, 2016. NU will owe Sadler approximately $3.4 million for the remainder of his contract.
“It’s going to cost some money, but we felt we had to give Doc every opportunity,” Osborne said. “So we extended his contract and raised the guaranteed money. We thought when you talk about commitment, that’s part of it. I have no regrets about that. Doc has many good qualities. No one wanted Doc to be successful more than I did.”
Osborne praised honesty and positive attitude during the 12-18 season. Sadler said Friday that when we spoke to a small group of reporters Thursday night after the team’s loss to Purdue, he didn’t think he would be fired.
He was informed he was relieved of his coaching duties Friday afternoon by Osborne, a decision Sadler said he didn’t all together agree with, but one he accepted.
“This is a very, very special place and it’s been a great, great place for the Sadlers and it’s one that we will always remember,” Sadler said.