Source: Doc Sadler could rejoin Huskers as assistant coach

New Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg was expected to have his coaching staff finalized soon, and it looks like one of the last key remaining pieces is about to be settled.

A source with close knowledge of the situation told HuskerOnline.com on Wednesday that former NU head coach Doc Sadler, who just wrapped up his fifth season as head coach at Southern Miss, could return to Lincoln as a full-time assistant.

Other sources said Sadler plans to meet with USM's new athletic director Jeremy McClain tomorrow to discuss his future. There's a chance Southern Miss could do enough to keep him Hattiesburg, and it sounds like this isn't as close to being finalized as some believe.

Sadler, 58, went 101-89 in his six seasons with the Huskers, including three trips to the NIT. He was fired following the 2011-12 campaign - NU's first year in the Big Ten - and had stops on the staff at Kansas and then as an assistant under Hoiberg in 2013-14.

He took over at Southern Miss in '14 and after going just 3-20 his first season turned the Golden Eagles into a 20-13 squad this past year with a berth in the CBI.

It's been expected that Hoiberg wanted to bring in an experienced, defensive-minded coach to fill one of his three full-time assistant openings.

After bringing in talented recruiters in Matt Abdelmassih in from St. John's and retaining Armon Gates from Tim Miles' staff, it would seem Sadler fits exactly the bill Hoiberg wanted.

“Doc’s one of my closest friends in this business," Hoiberg said during his introductory press conference last Tuesday. "When (my family) started talking about if this was something we wanted to do, I talked to Doc a lot about that. He had nothing but positives to say.”