Sanderson steps down as head coach of the men's basketball team
Kim Chaudoin |
Scott Sanderson, head coach of the Lipscomb University men’s basketball team, resigned today, Philip Hutcheson, director of Lipscomb athletics announced.
Sanderson just completed his 14th season with the Bisons, coming to Lipscomb in the fall of 1999. He is leaving the university to pursue other career opportunities.
“Scott has been a key part of Lipscomb athletics and its transition to NCAA Division I for more than 14 years,” Hutcheson said in making the announcement. “I know him to be a man of fine character who is committed to the game. We have worked with Scott through many conversations recently as he has come to this decision. The university is committed to being helpful and generous as Scott and his family makes this transition. We wish him every success.”
Sanderson has been the only coach the Bisons have had since their transition to NCAA Division I. His record as head coach of the Bisons is 222-201, and he was named “Basketball Times” NAIA National Coach of the Year 1999-2000. He has an overall record of 306-226 as a head coach. He won Atlantic Sun Conference regular season championships in 2006 and 2010. Sanderson led the Bisons to the program's first-ever post-season appearance in the NIT Tournament in 2006. He was named Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year that season.
“I would like to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to Lipscomb University for the wonderful 14 years my family and I have experienced here,” said Sanderson in a prepared statement. “After much consideration, I believe it is time for me and the university to go in different directions. I do believe we have made positive strides in guiding the program from NAIA to NCAA Division I competition. I would like to thank my current and former players, my coaching staff—both past and present—the administration, our board of trustees and our president, Dr. Randy Lowry. I wish Lipscomb University much success in all its future endeavors.”
Sanderson, who played college basketball as a guard for the University of South Carolina, graduated in 1984 and completed his master’s degree there in 1988. He served as an assistant coach at the University of South Carolina, the University of Virginia, the University of Colorado and the University of New Orleans. Prior to coming to Lipscomb, Sanderson held the head coaching position at the University of Mobile for three seasons where he compiled an 84-25 record and was named NAIA National Coach of the Year.
Hutcheson said that assistant coach Pete Froedden will immediately assume leadership of all men’s basketball program activities and administration while a search for Sanderson’s successor is underway. Froedden, in his fourth year as an assistant coach for the Bisons, is a former assistant coach at Austin Peay State University, former head coach for Nashville’s Hillsboro High School and Memphis’s Harding Academy and is a former Bison basketball player.