University of North Dakota Men's Basketball

University of North Dakota Director of Athletics Bill Chaves announced the hiring of Paul Sather on May 30, 2019 to fill the head men's basketball post. Sather comes to UND following a very successful stint at Northern State (Aberdeen, S.D.) where he was back-to-back conference coach of the year, leading the Wolves to the NCAA Division II championship game three seasons ago. He will be entering his seventh season at the helm for the Fighting Hawks in the 2025-26 season.    Armed with a collegiate coaching résumé that includes 25 years— including 20 at South Dakota schools— Sather has built a pair of national-contending basketball teams at his two head coaching stops. Prior to that, he was a six-year assistant at NSU, his alma mater, under legendary head coach Don Meyer. Sather enters his 21st season a head coach, with an overall record of 355-266.   “What a great day for the University of North Dakota and North Dakota Men’s Basketball,” Chaves said at the time of Sather's hiring. “Any hire is about getting the right fit at the right time and I have no doubt that Coach Sather is exactly the right person to lead our program today and into the future. Paul’s success as a head coach at two institutions including his alma mater has been remarkable and I believe that experience will serve us tremendously well as he embarks on his tenure at UND. We look forward to having Paul, Kelsie, Sam and Becca join our family and the Grand Forks community.” The Fighting Hawks secured 12 wins in 2024-2025, featured by non-conference victories over Utah Valley, Loyola Marymount and Weber State. Treysen Eaglestaff averaged 18.9 points per game, recording 30 double-digit performances and 13 games of 20 or more points. He became the 39th player in program history to top 1,000 points in a career, as he earned himself All-Summit League Second Team honors. He recorded 51 points against South Dakota State in the Summit league Tournament along with 40 points vs. No. 6 Alabama. Eli King ranked fourth in the Summit League in steals, securing himself a spot on the All-Defensive team. The Fighting Hawks averaged the most points per game in the Coach Sather era, scoring 77.3 points per contest. Eaglestaff (18.9 ppg), Mier Panoam (13.0 ppg) and Amar Kulijuhovic (10.7 ppg) all averaged 10 or more points per outing.  The 2023-24 season was the most successful of Sather’s tenure at UND. The team went 18-14 overall, and 10-6 in the Summit League. Both of these marks were the best of the program’s Summit League era. B.J. Omot was named to First Team All-Conference, becoming the first Fighting Hawk to do so since Marlon Stewart in 2019-20, Tyree Ihenacho was named Second Team All-Conference, the first since Filip Rebraca following the 2020-21 season. Eli King was named to the Summit League All-Defensive team and Amar Kuljuhovic was named to the Summit League All-Newcomer team. The team started 8-4, including a six game winning streak, the best start through 12 games in the Division I era. After an 0-3 start to the Summit League schedule, the Fighting Hawks got the first league win at Kansas City 82-69; which began a seven-game winning streak. Ultimately the Fighting Hawks earned season sweeps of Oral Roberts, South Dakota and Denver in league play en route to the third seed in the Summit League tournament. During the 2022-23 season, he guided the team to non conference wins at Incarnate Word and at Elon, as well as over Wisconsin-Stout, Utah Tech, Cal State Fullerton and North Central (Minn.). The team got their first win in conference play on January 19th against Kansas City, in which the team set a single game record with 18 made threes in a single game. They also closed their year playing their best ball of the season, winning five of their last seven games. In the Summit League Tournament, the Hawks came in as the 9 seed and got their first tournament win in three years as they defeated Denver in the 8 vs 9 game.  In the 2021-22 season, Sather helped the Fighting Hawks work through an ever-changing schedule and closed the season with a record of 6-25 overall and 2-16 in Summit League play. North Dakota battled its way back from deficits in most games and of the 25 losses, 12 of them came by 10 points or less. Sather also coached Summit League Freshman of the Year Paul Bruns, who played a key role for the Fighting Hawks in 2021-22, leading all freshmen in the Summit League with 14.8 points per game. Bruns finished the year with honorable mention All-Summit League accolades and broke the freshman scoring record at UND with 460 points. In a year that featured a global pandemic and new challenges across all of collegiate athletics in 2020-21, Sather navigated a tough non-conference schedule and a new-look league schedule to help guide the Fighting Hawks to their highest finish in the Summit League since joining the league in 2018-19. The 8-8 mark helped UND finish in fifth place before falling to eventual Sweet 16 participant Oral Roberts in the Summit League Tournament.  Flip Rebraca etched his name in program history by earning a spot on the All-Summit League Second Team following finishing seventh in the league in scoring at 17.3 ppg and fourth in rebounding at 8.2 rpg in league play while becoming the 39th player to score 1,000 points in his career at UND. Off the floor, Rebraca was named to the Summit League All-Academic Team and a CoSIDA Academic All-District Team selection.  Sather led a Fighting Hawks team to new heights in his first year behind the bench in 2019-20, becoming only the third coach in Summit League history to reach the tournament title game in their first year as head coach. Along the way, UND picked up a win over Big Ten foe Nebraska, the first since 1933, started 2-0 in league play for the first time since 2005, and knocked off North Dakota State in the final home game of the year.  Marlon Stewart became the 38th 1,000-point scorer in program history that season, also reaching the top-10 in the program record books for single season assists and points per game to earn the first All-Summit League First Team distinction in UND history. Filip Rebraca also broke the UND Division I single-season record for double-doubles in a season to be named to the All-Summit League Honorable Mention Team while De'Sean Allen-Eikens broke the program's scoring record by a freshman.  Off the court, the Fighting Hawks topped all of Division I in community service hours by a men's basketball program as well as set new highs in GPA marks.    In his final year at Northern State, the Wolves were the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament champions, finishing the league schedule with an 18-4 record, part of a 30-6 league mark in the past two seasons. Sather's team led the NSIC in scoring defense, scoring margin, 3-point field goal percentage defense, and assists. In addition, NSU sat sixth nationally in 3-point field goal percentage.   A year prior, an early 18-game winning streak propelled the Wolves to a program-record 36 wins and all the way within a missed buzzer-beater of an NCAA Division II championship.  He was named both the NSIC and NABC Central Region Coach of the year. His team was again among the elite in the country in a myriad of statistical categories, finishing in the top 20 in scoring defense (66.1) and rebounding margin (+7.8), in the top 10 in scoring margin (+14.1) and in the top five schools in field goal percentage (51.2).   “What an incredible honor to become the next men's basketball coach at the University of North Dakota,” Sather said on his hiring. “Growing up in Minnesota and competing as a player and coach in the Dakotas for over 20 years has made me very familiar with UND Basketball and the strong history and tradition of winning championships.  It's the state’s flagship university with tremendous academic programs, beautiful athletic facilities, and most importantly, a passionate community that supports UND basketball. I'd like to thank Bill Chaves for believing in my vision and investing in the men's basketball program and I can't wait to work with the players and start our pursuit of building Fighting Hawk Basketball into champions again.”   Sather launched his head coaching career at Black Hills State (Spearfish, S.D.) in 2005. In five years there, Sather was instrumental in turning the BHSU program around from a 10-19 season in 2006-07 to an NAIA Final Four contender in 2008-09. The Yellow Jackets also qualified for the national tournament in 2009-10 and compiled an overall conference record of 46-25 in the five years under Sather, including winning two Dakota Athletic Conference championships.   As an assistant at Northern State, his teams recorded three league titles, a pair of NCAA Tournament bids with 10-league players, two of whom would also be named All-America. He then spent a year as an assistant at the University of Colorado.   After earning his bachelor’s degree in secondary education in 1996 from Northern State, he served as physical education teacher and assistant boys’ basketball coach at Sidney High School in Nebraska from 1996-1997. The following year he was a graduate assistant at Wayne State College while he earned his master’s degree in sports administration.   Originally from Princeton, Minn., Sather had a stellar career collegiate career as a Wolf from 1990-1994. He was team captain for NSU when it earned back-to-back NAIA national runner-up finishes in 1993 and 1994.   Sather's family includes his wife, Kelsie, and their two children, Sam and Becca.   COACHING CAREER Year School Overall Conf. Finish Notes 2005-06 Black Hills State 17-14 10-4 2006-07 Black Hills State 10-19 5-9 2007-08 Black Hills State 16-14 8-7 2008-09 Black Hills State 30-5 13-1 Program-record for wins, NAIA Final Four, DAC champs 2009-10 Black Hills State 21-10 10-3 NAIA Tourney, DAC champs 2010-11 Northern State 12-14 7-14 T10th 2011-12 Northern State 13-13 9-13 T8th 2012-13 Northern State 20-11 14-8 T5th 2013-14 Northern State 18-11 13-9 8th 2014-15  Northern State 23-9 15-7 4th NCAA Tournament 2015-16 Northern State 18-12 13-9 4th 2016-17  Northern State 22-8 17-5 T2nd 2017-18 Northern State 36-4 20-2 1st NSIC Coach of the Year, NCAA national runners-up, NSIC regular season and tourney champs 2018-19 Northern State 26-7 18-4 1st NSIC Coach of the Year, NCAA Tournament, NSIC regular season and tourney champs 2019-20    North Dakota 15-18 7-9 6th Summit League Tournament Runner-Up 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 Won the 8v9 SL tournament game, ended season winning six of final nine games 2023-24 North Dakota 18-14 10-6 3rd First winning record in SL play, best 12 game start of the SL era, swept three conference opponents 2024-25 North Dakota 12-21 5-11 6th Had a player earn All-Summit League Second Team honors (Treysen Eaglestaff) and a player make the All-Defensive Team (Eli King).  Total 355-266 210-157

University of North Dakota men’s basketball coach Paul Sather announced the hiring of Ty Danielson as the program’s assistant coach on Thursday, June 19, 2025. He is currently in his first season as an assistant coach in Grand Forks.    Danielson joined North Dakota after spending 2024-25 as an assistant coach at Washburn University, where he helped lead the Ichabods on a historic run to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight, falling in the national semifinals to eventual national champion Nova Southeastern. Under Danielson’s guidance, the Ichabods finished with a 30-4 overall record, captured the MIAA title for the first time in over 20 years and climbed as high as No. 1 in the NABC rankings for the first time in program history.     He also had a successful run at Fort Lewis College as both an assistant and associate head coach for three seasons. While with the Skyhawks, Danielson helped the program go 78-17 with a pair of national tournament appearances and back-to-back conference tournament titles. He also was dominant on the recruiting and development trail, securing multiple impact transfers as well as coaching a bevy of all-conference and all-region selections.   Danielson got his collegiate coaching start at Missouri Western, where he spent two seasons as a gradate assistant before moving into his first full-time assistant role in 2020-21. He helped MWU reach the national tournament for the first time in over a decade during his tenure, while also leading them into the national polls for the first time since 2001-02.   Danielson also enjoyed a successful playing career at Nebraska-Kearney from 2014-18, appearing in 119 games and making 95 starts enroute to a pair of All-MIAA Honorable Mention selections as a junior and senior. He ranks 23rd in UNK history with 1,301 points while his 196 triples are third and his .827 percentage at the charity stripe is fourth.   He earned his bachelor’s degree in general studies from Nebraska-Kearney in 2018 before earning his master’s degree in sports and fitness management in 2020 at Missouri Western.   Danielson is the brother of former North Dakota men’s basketball player Brady Danielson, who is the program’s all-time leader in games played (151) over his career (2019-24).   THE TY DANIELSON FILE Position: Assistant Coach Hometown: York, Neb. Education: Nebraska-Kearney (2018), Missouri Western (2020)   CAREER IN BASKETBALL AS A COACH 2024-25: Washburn University (NCAA DII, Assistant Coach) 2022-24: Fort Lewis College (NCAA DII, Associate Head Coach) 2021-22: Fort Lewis College (NCAA DII, Assistant Coach) 2020-21: Missouri Western (NCAA DII, Assistant Coach) 2018-20: Missouri Western (NCAA DII, Graduate Assistant) 2014-18: Nebraska Select (AAU, Director of Skills and Development)   AS A PLAYER 2014-18: Nebraska-Kearney (NCAA DII)  

Estevan Sandoval will be entering his fifth season on the University of North Dakota men’s basketball staff in 2025-26. It will be his fifth season with the program, his third as an assistant coach after he started out as the Director of Operations. Sandoval was apart of a 2024-25 UND team that averaged 77.3 points per game, the most the team has averaged since he joined the staff. Guards Treysen Eaglestaff (Second Team), Mier Panoam (Honorable Mention) and Eli King (All-Defensive Team) all earned end of season awards, while Eaglestaff was the only player in the country with multiple 40-point games.  During his first season as assistant coach, he worked primarily with the guards; helping guide Eli King to a place on the Summit League All-Defensive team and Treysen Eaglestaff to winning Peak Performer of the Week honors three times last year. Eaglestaff set a new program record with 21 straight games with at least one made three pointer, while King finished second in the conference with 1.8 steals/game. Tyree Ihenacho also made Second Team All-Conference as he averaged over 14 points and exactly four assists in Summit League games. He also works with the other assistant coaches on scouting and recruiting. Sandoval arrived at North Dakota following a stint as an assistant coach at Western Texas, where he spent one season. There, he helped the Westerners finish with a 15-8 record and advance to the NJCAA Region V Championship.   Prior to his stint at Western Texas, he spent one season at Gillette College, helping lead the Pronghorns to a 26-6 record in his first season, sending three players to the Division I level after the 2019-20 season (Bradley Akhile, Tarig Eisa, and Mason Archambault). Archambault and Akhile were both All-Region IX Second Team honorees. Sandoval’s primary responsibilities included recruiting, player development, scouting, and other tasks pertaining to the success of the program.   Sandoval carries with him experience at the Division I level, having served as both a student manager and graduate assistant with New Mexico from 2013-2019. While with the Lobos, his primary roles were assisting with film/film breakdown, travel, stats, meals, while also overseeing the teams’ six managers. He assisted with social media platforms, Sixth Man booster club, camps and video. In addition, Sandoval assisted coaches with scouting reports and compiled recruiting databases while assisting with recruit scheduling.   He earned his undergraduate degree in 2017 from New Mexico in business administration and completed his graduate degree in  physical education with a concentration in sports administration from UNM in 2019.   Sandoval is a native of Santa Fe, N.M.  

Jamie Stevens was named an assistant coach for UND on July 2, 2019. This will be his seventh season on the staff at North Dakota.  During his sixth season during the 2024-25 season, Stevens was apart of a team who averaged 77.3 points per game, the highest points total since joining the staff in 2019.  In addition to his duties with the scout team and and recruiting, he also works extensively with the forwards. During the 2023-24 season, B.J. Omot earned First Team All-Summit League honors under Stevens’ tutelage as he led the team in points per game for the second straight season with 16.7 points per game. Furthermore, Brady Danielson was also named unsung hero for all UND male sports.  Stevens spent one season under current Head Coach Paul Sather at Northern State, helping guide the Wolves to a 26-7 overall record and 18-4 mark in NSIC play en route to back-to-back conference titles and the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Central Region Tournament.   Prior to moving to Aberdeen, Stevens spent seven seasons as the head coach at Montana State University Billings, finishing with an 89-113 overall record and advancing to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2017. In 2012, MSUB went 18-12 to claim the program’s first GNAC Championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.   Prior to his time at MSU Billings, Stevens spent four seasons at Central Wyoming College, where he resurrected a program that had been out of existence for nearly two decades. In the three competition years under his guidance, CWC compiled a 53-39 record with three consecutive winning seasons. In his first season, the team finished 19-11 and tied for first in sub-region play, earning Stevens the Wyoming Community College Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. In 2010-11, the Rustlers finished 17-15 overall and advanced to the second round of the Region IX Tournament in Norfolk, Neb. Under Stevens, numerous players earned postseason recognitions as six players earned all-conference honors and two earned all-region honors. His inaugural team (2008-09) also carried a 3.17 team GPA that earned them a National Academic Team of the Year distinction by the NNJCAA.   Stevens began his coaching career as the assistant men’s basketball coach at the Colorado School of Mines for six seasons. During the 2005-06 season, Stevens was a part of an Oredigger squad that had a 15-14 overall record and advanced to the RMAC/Wells Fargo Shootout after an opening round victory in the conference quarterfinals.  It was the first win in the RMAC tournament for Mines since 1996.   He played collegiately at Montana State University Billings from 1994-99 and is known as one of the most prolific passers in the program’s history. In four seasons, Stevens set records for most assists in a game (16) and in a career (805), and also left the school with the most career steals (167). Stevens helped the Yellowjackets to a Pacific West Conference championship during the 1995-96 season and a trip to the NCAA Division II Sweet 16 during the 1996-97 season. His play and dedication to the program earned him induction into the Eastern Montana College/Montana State University Billings Athletic Hall of Fame in February of 2008.