Paul Sandeford, a Lady Topper basketball head coach from 1982-1997 and an assistant coach for the men’s team from 2004-07, has without a doubt left his mark on Western athletics.
Sandeford is Western’s most successful coach in Lady Topper history. He led his teams to a winning record every season he was on the Hill. Sandeford led 13 out of those 15 teams to 20-or-more wins, and he also made it to the NCAA Tournament 12 times.
Sandeford will be inducted into the WKU Athletics Hall of Fame on Saturday along with former head football coach Jack Harbaugh, former baseball player Don Durham and former diver Rick Kral, according to the W-Club.
Lady Topper head coach Mary Taylor Cowles is living proof of Sandeford’s influence on Western. Cowles played for Sandeford from 1988 through 1992, before she became an assistant on Sandeford’s staff in 1995.
“Probably if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be sitting here today,” Cowles said emotionally on Monday at Western’s annual basketball media day. “He taught me a lot about the game, obviously, coach Sandeford, along with Western, have just meant a lot to me and my family.”
She said she will be very excited and very proud of him on Saturday.
Sandeford came to Western from Louisburg (N.C.) Junior College after being the runner-up in the Junior College National Championship in 1982 and winning the championship the season before that.
“I was looking for a challenge at the time,” Sandeford said. “My wife thought I was crazy.”
When Sandeford came to Western the Lady Topper program wasn’t the well-known program that he helped build until he left in 1997.
In Sandeford’s third season at Western, in 1985, he led the Lady Toppers to their first ever Final Four appearance. Sandeford’s Lady Toppers would return to the Final Four twice more.
Sandeford said he wouldn’t have taken the job if Western hadn’t moved into the Sun Belt Conference.
Being a member of the Sun Belt meant that the team could compete on a national level.
His goal in building up the program was to get the top two recruits in the state of Kentucky to commit to Western, Sandeford said.
While Sandeford might miss the teaching and molding of players he said he doesn’t miss the headache that came a long with it.
“I miss the practices and the kids,” Sandeford said. “I don’t miss the 80 hours a week and the travel. If I had to do it over again, I’d probably do it, but I’d do it a little differently.”
Sandeford said he has a hard time doing much of anything halfway, so while he was coaching Western to new heights some of the things in the coach’s life took a back seat.
“My son grew up while I was raising other people’s kids,” he said. “I don’t know how to do anything halfway, and so I was so immersed in what I was doing, that I don’t know if I took the time to smell the roses.”
Reach Ryan Carey at sports@chherald.com.
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