Paul Sanderford

Paul "Buster" Sanderford (born November 8, 1949) is a retired college basketball coach who coached from the 1970s to 2000s.

On November 8, 1949, Sanderford was born in Zebulon, North Carolina.

Growing up, Sanderford was on the basketball and baseball teams while attending Corinth Holders High School.

After high school, Sanderford was a minor league baseball player for the Chicago White Sox.

During the 1970s, Sanderford went to Louisburg College, Methodist College and North Carolina State University for his post secondary education.

His programs included sociology and counselling.

While attending college, Sanderford primarily played baseball while also playing basketball.

While at Methodist during the early 1970s, Sanderford worked as a school counselor in their admissions department.

He continued his work in admissions when he became an assistant director in 1973.

In 1975, Sanderford became a dean for Methodist.

During this time period, Sanderford worked with their baseball team for two years before moving to their basketball team for a year in assistant coaching positions.

From 1976 to 1982, Sanderford accumulated 163 wins and 19 losses while coaching the women's basketball team at Louisburg Junior College.

In 1976, Sanderford joined the women's basketball team at Louisburg Junior College as their head coach.

While coaching for Western Kentucky, he helped create an invitational basketball tournament sponsored by Bowling Green Bank during the early 1980s.

At Louisburg, Sanderford won the NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship in 1981 and lost the championship in 1982.

With Louisburg, Sanderford won the NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship in 1981.

The following year, Sanderford and Louisburg lost the NJCAA championship final to Moberty.

At Louisburg, Sanderford had 163 wins and 19 losses.

As part of the Western Kentucky Lady Toppers basketball team from 1982 to 1997, Sanderford won the Sun Belt Conference women's basketball tournament seven teams and reached the final of the 1992 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.

With 365 wins and 120 losses, Sanderford has held the record for most women's basketball wins at Western Kentucky for over twenty years.

In May 1982, it was announced that Sanderford would take a break from Louisburg in August 1982 and resume his tenure the following year.

Sanderford was hired as the coach of the Western Kentucky Lady Toppers basketball team in June 1982.

Sanderford won the Sun Belt Conference women's basketball tournament seven times and finished in second five times between 1983 and 1997.

At the National Women's Invitational Tournament with Western Kentucky, Sanderford's team was fourth in 1984 and sixth in 1996.

His team reached the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament twelve times, which included back-to-back competitions from 1985 to 1995.

At individual NCAA competitions, Sanderford reached the Final Four with Western Kentucky during the 1985 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament and 1986 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.

During the 1992 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, Sanderford and Western Kentucky were defeated by Stanford in the championship game.

While coaching the Nebraska Cornhuskers women's basketball team from 1997 to 2002, Sanderford reached the final of the Women's National Invitation Tournament in 1997 and the second round of the 1998 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.

After leaving the team in 1997, Sanderford had 365 wins and 120 losses with Western Kentucky.

He has held the Western Kentucky record for most women's basketball wins for over twenty years leading up to the 2021–22 season.

In 1997, Sanderford became the coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers women's basketball team.

Following the announcement, members of the Nebraska Legislature disagreed with Sanderford's hiring as it went against their requirement to have more women work at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Chris Beutler thought the university's actions were "a direct affront to the Legislature".

For Ernie Chambers, he believed that paying Sanderford more than the previous coach, Angela Beck, was a form of sexism.

With Nebraska, Sanderford was defeated in the final of the 1997 Women's National Invitation Tournament during the preseason.

From 1998 to 2000, Sanderford appeared at consecutive tournaments in the NCAA with Nebraska.

During these years, Sanderford and Nebraska reached the second round of the 1998 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.

Apart from coaching, Sanderford has worked as a color analyst from the 2000s to 2010s.

Sanderford was selected to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022.

After stepping down from his coaching position in 2002, Sanderford had 88 wins and 69 losses with Nebraska.