Mount Vernon School District has hired veteran basketball head coach Nate Sanderson as head girls’ basketball coach. His career head coaching record is 199-195. He is currently head of the Iowa Basketball Coaches Association.
Sanderson is replacing Matt Haddy, who left to take a head football coaching position at Clear Creek Amana.
At Louisa-Muscatine from 2003-2010, Sanderson took the team from losing 30+ games in a row to setting a school record for victories in three consecutive seasons–12 in 2008, 16 in 2009, and 18 in 2010.
At Springville from 2010-2017, Sanderson led the team to Class 1A State Championships in 2016 and 2017 and to Class 1A Runner-Up in 2015. In 2016 and 2017 he was the Class 1A Iowa Girls Coaches Association (IGCA) and Iowa Boys Coaches Association (IBCA) Coach of the Year. He was Cedar Rapids Gazette Area Coach of the Year in 2015.
Recently, Sanderson was head coach at Linn-Mar from 2017-2020. Last season he was an assistant at North Linn, which got to the state tournament.
This year he was looking for the right job in the area where he could use his talents as a head basketball coach again, said Mount Vernon activities director Matt Thede. When the Mount Vernon job opened up, the position was exactly what Sanderson was looking for in an area very close to where he lives.
Mount Vernon hired him because “he had experience with a couple schools of building the program from a low point to helping them achieve success,” said Thede. “We felt he was a great fit for where Mount Vernon currently is and where we’d like to go.”
“We are excited to have Nate join our amazing coaching staff where he can use his talents to help build our program, develop our girls’ basketball skills, and contribute to our coaching culture,” Thede said.