Wyoming employs ex-assistant Wicks as hoops coach

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• Jeff Borzello ESPN Staff Writer Basketball recruiting expert.
• Joined ESPN in 2014.
• Graduate of University of Delaware.May 12, 2024, 05:48 PM ET Wyoming

has worked with previous assistant Sundance Wicks as the Cowboys’new guys’s basketball coach, the school revealed Sunday.His agreement is for five seasons, sources informed ESPN.Wicks spent last season as the coach for Green Bay, where he led the Phoenix to an 18-14 record, 15 wins more than the previous season– one of the biggest turn-arounds in college basketball. The native of Gillette, Wyoming, was a former assistant with the Cowboys from 2020 to 2023. He also was the coach at Missouri Western from 2018 to 2020. Editor’s Picks”I am honored, humbled and exceptionally grateful for this opportunity at the University of Wyoming,”Wicks said.”… You can not take into words what it implies for a kid from the country roads outside of Gillette to represent the State of Wyoming and the Cowboys as their brand-new head basketball coach.” He changes Jeff Linder, who has actually been in the process of settling a deal in current days to end up being the leading assistant coach at Texas Tech after going 63-59 over 4 seasons with Wyoming.”Sundance will bring a fantastic energy to our program and the whole State of Wyoming, “Wyoming athletic director Tom Burman stated.

“Being a native of this fantastic state, Wicks understands the pride Cowboy fans take in the program and he will work tirelessly for his student-athletes and the neighborhood.” Wyoming’s program has made 16 NCAA tournament appearances. Its most recent came under Linder in 2022, with Wicks as an assistant, when Wyoming lost in the First 4. Prior to that look, Wyoming last reached the NCAA competition in 2015 under Larry Shyatt.” If there is one thing, I found out growing up in Wyoming it’s that when you Honor the Brown and Gold, you are honoring so much more than just the University of Wyoming,

“Wicks said.” You are honoring every single hard hat that awakened before the sun to work the coal mines. … Honoring the Brown and Gold is the understanding that an idea of the cap, a guiding wheel wave, a hard handshake or a huge hug is how you raise your individuals up in assistance of a tough day’s work.”Wicks’résumé includes extensive Department I assistant coaching experience, with stops at San Francisco, Northern Illinois and Colorado.He led Green Bay to instantaneous success in his only season there, as the Phoenix completed third in the Horizon League and he was named the conference’s coach of the year. The group’s 13 conference wins was the most by

the Phoenix considering that the 2013-14 season.Wicks likewise won the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year, which exists every year to the top first-year head coach in Division I college basketball.The improvement at Green Bay revealed both in the win column and in the efficiency metrics, as the Phoenix improved to 230th last season under Wicks in the KenPom.com rankings after being third worst (No. 361 )in 2022-23.