Original article (ULM Hires Saur to Women’s Basketball Staff) on the University of Louisiana-Monroe’s athletic website ulmwarhawks.com.
ULM women’s basketball head coach Jeff Dow has announced that David Saur will join the program as an assistant, subject to board approval.
“We’re excited about the addition of David Saur to our coaching staff,” Dow said. “He has had a great deal of success as an assistant at both the NCAA Division I and II levels. Over the course of his career he has demonstrated an ability to develop post players and I’m looking forward to seeing him work with our young posts.
“His track record as a recruiting coordinator is well-documented with a number of his student-athletes being named either all-conference or all-freshman, and a few have even gone on to play professionally.”
Saur, who has been the recruiting coordinator at every one of his coaching stops, comes to the Bayou State after a one-year stint at UMass Lowell. While with the River Hawks, he mentored Lindsey Doucette and Kayla Gibbs to the best years of their collegiate tenures. Doucette earned All-America East honors in 2016.
Saur was previously at Stetson University, where he helped lead the program to the WNIT each of his two seasons there (2013-15). He was named the Atlantic Sun Conference Assistant Coach of the Year by FGBScouting.com, as well as one of the nation’s top mid-major assistants. Saur’s two years on the staff saw the Hatters produce a 50-16 record, with the 27 overall and 16 league wins from 2013-14 setting program records.
Amber Porter, under Saur’s tutelage, was named the A-Sun Freshman of the Year in 2014 before receiving Defensive Player of the Year honors the next season. All-Star Girl’s Report once ranked his recruiting class No. 1 in the A-Sun and No. 69 in the nation.
Statistically speaking, the 2013-14 Hatter squad set a program record with 17 games of 80 points or more, as well as nine 90-point outings and three more over triple-digits. The 2014-15 team finished in the top-15 nationally with a defensive field goal percentage of 35 percent.
Saur and Dow worked together during the 2012-13 season at Indiana University (Pa.), where the nationally-ranked team finished 23-9 and reached the NCAA Tournament. He fulfilled his duties as the post players’ coach, where he developed Lindsay Stamp and Sarah Pastorek into All-American status.
Saur also served on the California University (Pa.) staff for its 2011-12 squad while assisting the men’s and women’s programs at Thiel College during his undergrad years with the Tomcats. He was with the men as a senior (2010-11) and the women from the start of his sophomore term until the summer after graduation.
Saur helped prepare professional basketball players while in college, instructing the Sacramento Kings’ Rudy Gay among other NBA talents.
A native of Sykesville, Md., Saur graduated from Laurinburg Prep in Laurinburg, N.C., in 2007, where he helped his team to a top-15 finish in the USA Today prep school rankings. Saur then went on to earn his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Thiel in 2011 and his Master’s in Sport Management from Cal (Pa.) in 2012.