A familiar name is returning to Wyoming Basketball. The Cowboys Basketball team wasted no time in finding their next head coach in Sundance Wicks. The news was first reported by ESPN. Wicks takes the reins of the program after Jeff Liner took a top assistant job at Texas Tech.
The GoWyo.com and the Cowboys X platform (formerly known as twitter) also made an announcement.
The sun rises in Wyoming.
A new era of Cowboy Basketball!Welcome home, @CoachSundance pic.twitter.com/PasvtXnoqQ
— Wyoming Cowboy Basketball (@wyo_mbb) May 12, 2024
Wicks is a Wyoming native from Gillette earning the Milward Simpson Athlete of the Year honors in from Campbell County High School. He won state titles in football, basketball, and track and field.
Last season, Coach Wicks was in Green Bay helping create one of the biggest turnarounds in college basketball. He coached the Phoenix to an 18-14 record which was 15 more wins than the previous season according to ESPN. He earn the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year award which is presented to first year head coaches in division one basketball.
Wicks has been a head coach at Missouri Western prior to his time in Laramie. He has also been at Northern State University, San Fransisco, Northern Illinois, Colorado, and other division one and two programs.
Prior to his lone season in Green Bay, Coach Wicks was apart of Jeff Linder’s coaching staff for Wyoming from 2020-2023. He was apart of the coaching staff that had the Cowboys in the First Four round of NCAA March Madness tournament.
The new head coach will have work to do. He takes over a program who had a 15-17 record from a season ago, a program who has seen a lot of turnover in the roster including 13 players hitting the transfer portal over the past two seasons. After Linder departed from the Pokes, three incoming transfers did return to the transfer portal.
In a press release, he says, “Whether you were raised in Evanston, Worland or Wheatland, the Big Horns in Buffalo, the blue-collar town of Gillette, Casper, Cody or Cheyenne, Jackson Hole, Rock Springs or Riverton, Shoshoni, Lander or Laradise. Raise a glass, this one’s for you, we got work to do Wyoming,” Wicks said.
Wicks becomes the 23rd head coach in Wyoming Cowboys basketball history. You can read the full press release here.
