Paul Sather

Paul Robert Sather (born August 28, 1971) is an American college basketball coach, currently head men's basketball coach at the University of North Dakota.^[1]

Paul Sather

Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	North Dakota
Conference	Summit League
Record	73–115 (.388)
Biographical details
Born	(1971-08-28) August 28, 1971 (age 53) Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Playing career
1990–1994	Northern State
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1996–1997	Sidney HS (assistant)
1997–1998	Wayne State (NE) (GA)
1998–2004	Northern State (assistant)
2004–2005	Colorado (assistant)
2005–2010	Black Hills State
2010–2019	Northern State
2019–present	North Dakota
Head coaching record
Overall	355–266 (.572)
Tournaments	3–2 (NAIA) 5–3 (NCAA Division II)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
As a coach 2 NSIC North Division (2018, 2019) 2 NSIC regular season (2018, 2019) 2 NSIC tournament (2018, 2019) 2 DAC regular season (2009, 2010) DAC tournament (2009) As a player NSIC regular season (1993)
Awards
2× NSIC Coach of the Year (2018, 2019) NABC Central Region Coach of the Year (2018) DAC Coach of the Year (2009)

Early life

Sather, from Princeton, Minnesota, played college basketball for Northern State in Aberdeen, South Dakota from 1990 to 1994.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

Following his college career, he entered coaching, first as an assistant coach at Sidney High School in Nebraska, then as a graduate assistant at Wayne State College under Greg McDermott, where he also obtained a master's degree in sports administration. In 1998, Sather returned to Northern State as an assistant coach, where he served for six years. For the 2004–05 season, Sather joined Ricardo Patton’s staff at Colorado.^[2]

Black Hills State

In 2005, Sather was named head coach of Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota.^[3] In his five seasons at Black Hills State, he led the Yellow Jackets to a 94–62 record. His 2008–09 team went 30–5, setting a school season record for wins.^[4] In the 2008–09 season, he also won the DAC Coach of the Year.^[5]

Northern State

Sather was then hired to lead the program at his alma mater, Northern State, replacing Don Meyer. His teams went 188–89 in nine seasons. During this time, Sather won back to back Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) coach of the year awards and the Wolves played in the championship game of the 2018 NCAA Division II tournament, narrowly losing to Ferris State.^[6] That team finished 36-4 and set a school record for single season wins and consecutive wins with 18.^[7]

North Dakota

On May 30, 2019, Sather was announced as the new head coach for the North Dakota Fighting Hawks of the Summit League.^[8] He picked Jamie Stevens and Zach Horstman, who were assistants under him at Northern State, as assistant coaches.^[9] During his first season, Sather led the Fighting Hawks to the Summit League tournament championship game for the first time in school history, subsequently losing to North Dakota State.^[10] On March 14, 2023, it was announced that Sather was hired to a two year extension through the 2025–26 season.^[11]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Black Hills State Yellow Jackets (Dakota Athletic Conference) (2005–2010)
2005–06	Black Hills State	17–14	10–4	2nd
2006–07	Black Hills State	10–19	5–9	7th
2007–08	Black Hills State	16–14	8–7	4th
2008–09	Black Hills State	30–5	13–1	1st	NAIA Division II Final Four
2009–10	Black Hills State	21–10	10–3	1st	NAIA Division II first round
Black Hills State:		94–62 (.603)	46–24 (.657)
Northern State Wolves (Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) (2010–2019)
2010–11	Northern State	12–14	7–14	T–10th
2011–12	Northern State	13–13	9–13	T–8th
2012–13	Northern State	20–11	14–8	T–5th
2013–14	Northern State	18–11	13–9	8th
2014–15	Northern State	23–9	15–7	4th	NCAA Division II first round
2015–16	Northern State	18–12	13–9	4th
2016–17	Northern State	22–8	17–5	T–2nd
2017–18	Northern State	36–4	20–2	1st	NCAA Division II Runner-up
2018–19	Northern State	26–7	18–4	1st	NCAA Division II first round
Northern State:		188–89 (.679)	126–71 (.640)
North Dakota Fighting Hawks (Summit League) (2019–present)
2019–20	North Dakota	15–18	7–9	6th
2020–21	North Dakota	9–17	8–8	5th
2021–22	North Dakota	6–25	2–16	10th
2022–23	North Dakota	13–20	6–12	9th
2023–24	North Dakota	18–14	10–6	T–2nd
2024–25	North Dakota	12–21	5–11	T–6th
2025–26	North Dakota	0–0	0–0
North Dakota:		73–115 (.388)	38–62 (.380)
Total:		355–266 (.572)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

Career stats

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

College

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1990–91	Northern State	14	0		.86		1.00	0.60	0.07	0.14	0.14	0.90
1991–92	Northern State	6	0		.33		.40	0.66	0.00	0.16	0.33	1.33
1992–93	Northern State	36	18		.58	1.00	.57	3.88	0.94	0.97	0.61	7.16
1993–94	Northern State	34	34		.59		.61	5.58	1.44	0.97	0.55	9.97

^[12]

Coaching tree

Assistant coaches under Sather who became NCAA or NBA head coaches

• Sundance Wicks – Missouri Western (2018–2020), Green Bay (2023–2024), Wyoming (2024–present)
• Steve Smiley – Northern Colorado (2020–present)
• Justin Wieck – Minnesota Duluth (2018–present)
• Randall Herbst – Minot State (2025–present)

Personal life

He has two children, Sam and Becca, and a wife named Kelsie.