Sather Leaving Northern State to Become Head Coach at North Dakota

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) – A coach at a small-college basketball program in South Dakota will take over at Division I University of North Dakota. North Dakota announced Friday that Northern State coach Paul Sather would succeed Brian Jones, who stepped down after 13 years with the Fighting Hawks. Sather went 162-82 in nine years at Northern State, which is in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He led the Wolves to the NCAA Division II title game two years ago, when they came within a missed buzzer-beater of winning the championship. The Princeton, Minnesota, native was named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference coach of the year the last two seasons. Sather also coached at Black Hills State for five years. He guided that program to the NAIA Final Four and a school-record 30 wins in 2008-09.