After taking the Nebraska basketball team to its first 20-win season in several years, Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne needs to make sure Doc Sadler is a happy guy.
And by happy, we mean -- paid better than he is right now.
Now we know that making $700,000 a year is not chump change by any stretch of the imagination. Still, with some of the recent moves being made in college basketball, it's always good to make sure a hot coach is paid well and kept happy right where he is.
Sadler has done a fantastic job resurrecting the Nebraska basketball program. In two years, Nebraska is 37-27 and went 20-13 this past season, reaching the second round of the NIT.
Now, of course, the objective is to make it to the Big Dance at the NCAA tournament. Still, considering where this program was when he came on, Sadler has done about as good a job as one could expect considering the talent on hand in comparison to the teams they have faced.
Some recent job openings have raised concern that Sadler might jump the Husker ship. With openings at Marquette and the recent firing of Sean Sutton at Oklahoma State, Sadler is a coach whose name could draw interest from programs looking to hire a hot coach and pay him big bucks to do it.
It's unlikely Sadler would consider the OSU job, though. Sadler is close friends with the Sutton family -- he babysat Sean Sutton while an assistant for his father, Eddie -- so that personal relationship may kill any possible move within the conference.
Expect discussions to go on regarding a little bump in Sadler's paycheck, though. With the talent returning and a good recruiting effort in place, Sadler could be the guy that takes Nebraska far into the NCAA tournament in years to come.
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