Brad Soderberg was introduced on April 12, 2002, as the 23rd head coach in the history of the Billikens' basketball program. He recorded the first 20-win season of his career in 2006-07, guiding the Billikens to a 20-13 overall record and a spot in the Atlantic 10 Tournament semifinals. It was the program's first 20-win season since 1997-98. Soderberg's most recent success came on the heels of a 2005-06 season that saw Saint Louis serve notice to their new Atlantic 10 Conference foes by finishing tied for third in the league. The third-place finish was the Bills' best since they finished second in The Great Midwest Conference during the 1994-95 campaign. In his first two seasons at the Billikens' helm, Soderberg directed the Bills into the NIT each year after being eliminated in the Conference USA postseason tournament semifinals. He became the third Billiken head coach to guide SLU into the postseason in his first two seasons, joining legendary Eddie Hickey (1948 and 1949 NIT) and John Benington (1959 and 1960 NIT). The Billikens were in the postseason in back-to-back years for the first time since 1994-95 and 1995-96. He was the first Billiken coach to guide his club into the C-USA Tournament semifinals in back-to-back years. Except for the Billikens 6-10 mark in their final season in C-USA in 2004-05, Soderberg has posted a winning conference record in every other season of his collegiate head coaching career. In Soderberg's first season, the Billikens were 16-14 overall and 9-7 in C-USA, finishing in fourth-place in the league race. That matched the Bills' best league finish which occurred when national Freshman of the Year Larry Hughes led the Billikens to fourth place with a 10-6 mark in 1997-98. Soderberg's second campaign produced a 19-13 overall record and a sixth-place tie with Louisville in C-USA at 9-7. The Billikens closed the 2003 regular season with a seven-game win streak, which was its best C-USA winning streak in the eight-year history of the league. Saint Louis stretched that winning streak to eight with a victory in the quarterfinal round in the C-USA Tournament, and that was its best winning streak since the 1997-98 Billikens opened their season with eight consecutive wins. For his accomplishments during the 2002-03 season, Soderberg was named C-USA Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com. Soderberg spent one year as an assistant coach at Saint Louis under Lorenzo Romar. The Billikens (15-16 overall, 9-7 C-USA) finished fifth overall in Conference USA in 2001-02. Soderberg came to Saint Louis after a six-year run at the University of Wisconsin. He served as the Badgers' interim head coach after Dick Bennett's retirement early in the 2000-01 season. Bennett's unexpected retirement came in the wake of the Badgers' magical run to the 2000 NCAA Final Four. During his tenure at Wisconsin, Soderberg helped guide the Badgers to four NCAA Tournaments and one NIT bid. He compiled a 16-10 record and became the first Wisconsin coach to lead the Badgers to the NCAA Tournament in his first season. He was just the fourth Badgers coach ever to win his Big Ten debut and the first since 1911 to win his first eight games. Soderberg moved to Wisconsin in April 1995, after two seasons as head coach at South Dakota State. He guided the Jackrabbits to a 36-18 (.667) record from 1993-95, including a 21-15 mark in the highly regarded NCAA Division II North Central Conference. Soderberg served as head coach at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, from 1988-93 and led the Duhawks to a 79-45 (.637) record during his five-year stint. Loras was runner-up in the 1992 National Catholic Basketball Tournament, and Soderberg was named tournament Coach of the Year. Soderberg served as assistant coach at Loras in 1987-88 before becoming head coach. Prior to his arrival at Loras, Soderberg was an assistant coach at UW-Stevens Point (1984-85), graduate assistant at Colorado State (1985-86) and assistant coach at Fort Hays State (1986-87). Soderberg is a 1985 graduate of UW-Stevens Point, where he was a guard and team captain for Bennett's 1984 NAIA national runner-up, a team that included Terry Porter, who is a former head coach of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks. Soderberg and Porter started all 32 games in the Pointers' backcourt in '83-84, and Soderberg was a first-team All-Conference and All-NAIA District 14 selection. He earned the "Hustle Award" at the '84 NAIA Tournament. Soderberg shot 56 percent from the field and 83 percent from the free throw line in his two years at UW-Stevens Point. A native of Stevens Point, Wis., Soderberg attended Pacelli High, where his father was head basketball coach before retiring. He has a bachelor's degree in physical education from UW-Stevens Point and a master's in physical education from Colorado State (1986). Coaching runs in the family tree. Soderberg's brother, Kurt, spent five years as head coach at Milwaukee's Marquette High School from 1998-2002. He moved to be head coach at Northland College in Ashland, Wis., from 2002-04, and is now head coach at Olivet College in Olivet, Mich. The 44-year-old Soderberg and his wife, Linda, have two sons, Kramer and Davis, and a daughter, Daley.
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