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Aberdeen native Tevon Saddler is the new coach of the Capital City Go-Go, the Washington Wizards G League affiliate.
Saddler made the news official Monday in a news release from Nicholls State University , where he spent three years as the head mens basketball coach of the college program.
The Wizards and Go-Go have yet to officially announce his hiring.
Saddler led Nicholls to a pair of 20-win seasons and a 54-46 overall record before opting to leave for a coaching opportunity in professional basketball.
Hes the only coach in program history to lead the team to consecutive 20-win campaigns.
Serving as the head coach at Nicholls has been one of the greatest honors of my life.
I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to lead this program, mentor our student-athletes, and represent this University and community with pride, Saddler said in the news release.
Saddler, 31, had deep ties to Nicholls, having played and coached there.
But he also has strong DMV connections that explain his move north.
He played a pair of high school seasons at Aberdeen before joining St.
Frances for the 2011-12 season.
In 2013, he was The Baltimore Suns boys basketball Player of the Year.
He led St.
Frances to the MIAA A Conference crown that year as a senior, averaging 19 points per game.
His growth from last year to this year was amazing, St.
Frances coach Nick Myles said in 2013.
He became our vocal leader, and he was the guy when we needed a big basket, he would score it or dish out the game-winning assist.
When his college playing career at UNC Greensboro and then Nicholls concluded, Saddler quickly moved into coaching in 2018.
He worked at South Alabama, Nicholls and McNeese before spending the 2022-23 season as Marylands director of player personnel under Kevin Willard.
The Terps went 22-13 and made the NCAA Tournaments second round in Saddlers one season on staff.
Saddler left Willards staff to take the Nicholls head coaching job.
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Former Maryland football player appears on hit reality show Love Island Maryland forward Pharrel Payne returning next season, AD Jim Smith says University of Maryland defensive back arrested on harassment-related charges Leaving Nicholls late in the offseason after a transfer portal recruiting cycle was a tough decision for Saddler, according to athletic director Jonathan Terrell.
As happy as he was, he was just crushed at the timing of it, Terrell told the Lafourche Gazette.
He and I talked.
We sat there and we shed some tears together and then it becomes a point where its like, Well, OK, now we have to move fast.
But we couldnt move fast because we had to wait until after the draft, so its been a unique situation.
But we are so happy for Tevon.
I told him to not worry about the timing.
Everything in life happens on one time clock: Gods timing.
Thats it.
Saddler will now try his luck at the professional level after spending the first eight years of his coaching career in the college game.
It wont be a completely unfamiliar situation for Saddler, though, as former Terps star Julian Reese is on the Go-Go roster as part of his two-way deal with Washingtons organization.
Reese started 33 games for Maryland during Saddlers one season in College Park.
The rising star in the coaching ranks replaces former Go-Go coach Cody Toppert, who is reportedly joining the Wizards as an assistant.
Have a news tip? Contact Bennett Conlin at [email protected] , 410-332-6200 and x.com/BennettConlin.
Tevon Saddler, left, of St.
Frances, dribbles past John Carroll's Rodney Elliott during a game in 2012.
(Steve Ruark/Freelance).