Saul Edward Phillips (born October 10, 1972) is an American college basketball coach. He is currently the head coach of the
Northern State Wolves
The Northern State Wolves are the athletic teams that represent Northern State University, located in Aberdeen, South Dakota, U.S., in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Wolves compete as members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Co ...
men's basketball team. Phillips is a graduate of
University of Wisconsin–Platteville.
Coaching career
North Dakota State University
Phillips got his start at NDSU as an assistant coach under
Tim Miles in 2004. When Miles left the school to coach
Colorado State in 2007, Phillips was promoted to head coach.
In 2009 Phillips led the
North Dakota State
North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as t ...
Bison to win the
Summit League tournament championship and became the first team since Southwestern Louisiana (now
Louisiana–Lafayette) in 1972 to advance to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship in their first year of eligibility. On January 17, 2013; Saul Phillips notched his 100th win with the Bison.
Phillips reached the
NCAA tournament once again in 2014 after winning the
Summit League tournament. Seeded 12th in the NCAA Tournament, the
Bison upset 5th seeded
Oklahoma in the second round 80–75, then lost to 4th seeded
San Diego State
San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...
44-63 in the third round. He is currently 4th on the all-time wins list in NDSU men's basketball history.
Ohio University
On April 6, 2014, Phillips agreed to become the 18th head coach of the
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
Bobcats
The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...
. The
2014–15 Bobcats finished with a 10–20 overall record and only 5 wins in the MAC in spite of the presence of future
NBA player
Maurice Ndour
Maurice Daly Ndour (born June 18, 1992) is a Senegalese professional basketball player for the Nagoya Diamond Dolphins of the Japanese basketball league. He played college basketball for the Ohio Bobcats and has represented the Senegalese natio ...
. In
2015–16 the Bobcats went 23–12 and 11–7 MAC Conference record giving them the #2 seed in the
2016 MAC tournament. Junior
Antonio Campbell was named the 2016
MAC Player of the Year after averaging a
double-double
In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...
throughout the season. The Bobcats lost to
Buffalo in the semifinal game of the MAC Tournament 74–88. Ohio accepted an invitation to the
2016 College Basketball Invitational. They reached the semifinals but lost to
Morehead State. His
2016–17 went 20–10 overall and 11–7 in the MAC which was good for second place.
His last two seasons at Ohio were plagued by player injuries and resulted in 14-17 records both seasons. On March 13, 2019, Phillips' contract was not renewed by Ohio after 5 seasons. One of his successes at Ohio turned out to be offering
Jason Preston, who was unrecruited out of high school, a scholarship. Preston was later selected in the
2021 NBA draft
The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA u ...
.
Northern State University
On June 11, 2019, Phillips was named the head men's basketball coach at
Northern State following the departure of
Paul Sather In his first season, the Wolves won the
NSIC regular season championship and the
NSIC tournament championship. However, the postseason was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.
Head coaching record
''**-During the 2020-21 season, only a North and South Division winner were awarded, no overall conference championship was given due to
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
''
House Hunters
Season 185, episode 7 of
HGTV's show
House Hunters
''House Hunters'' is an American unscripted television series that airs on HGTV and is produced by Pie Town Productions. Each episode follows people making a decision about a new home purchase or rental.
Format
''House Hunters'' follows indiv ...
featured Saul as he and his wife search for a home in
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
,
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...
.
References
External links
Ohio profileNorth Dakota State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Saul
1972 births
Living people
American men's basketball coaches
American men's basketball players
Basketball coaches from Wisconsin
Basketball players from Wisconsin
College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
Lake Superior State Lakers men's basketball coaches
Milwaukee Panthers men's basketball coaches
North Dakota State Bison men's basketball coaches
Northern State Wolves men's basketball coaches
Ohio Bobcats men's basketball coaches
People from Reedsburg, Wisconsin
Wayne State Wildcats men's basketball coaches
Wisconsin–Platteville Pioneers men's basketball players