Northern State head men’s basketball coach Paul Sather announced Tuesday, the promotion of Sundance Wicks to Associate Head Coach. The change comes just one year after Wicks re-joined the Northern State ranks.
“Coach Wicks brings a wealth of experience to our program and made an immediate impact when he arrived on campus,” noted Sather. “He played here, receiving his undergraduate and graduate degrees, he is a Northern guy. He is going to make a great head coach in the very near future, and his experience here at Northern State will get him prepared for that opportunity.”
“I am extremely grateful for Coach Sather and the tutelage he has given me in just one year back with Northern,” added Wicks. “The expectations of our program are of championship caliber. I’m committed to helping coach, along with our staff and players, fulfill the lofty goals we have set for our program. The unrelenting commitment to excellence of all the amazing people at NSU, here in Aberdeen and the surrounding communities continue to make this place a big time job and prime destination for Division II college basketball.”
In his first season back, the Wolves posted a 22-8 record overall and 17-5 mark finishing tied for second in the league overall standings. SDSU transfer Logan Doyle was named the NSIC Newcomer of the year, while Ian Smith and Mack Arvidson were named to the NSIC second team. Coach Wicks emphasized defense throughout his first season with the Wolves, leading the team to a league leading marks in field goal percentage defense (.443) and rebounding margin (+7.4).
Since his time as a Northern State student-athlete from 1999-2003, Wicks has held assistant coaching positions at NSU, Colorado (2006-07), Northern Illinois (2007-11), and most recently San Francisco. In his season with the Dons, San Francisco finished fifth in the West Coast Conference behind the likes of Saint Mary’s, Gonzaga and BYU. USF tallied a 15-15 record overall and 8-10 record in the difficult WCC.
From 2011-15, Wicks worked tirelessly in launching the Arizona Power Basketball Academy. He built APBA from the ground up and served as a skill instructor and program director based out of Gilbert, Arizona. Prior to launching the Arizona Power Basketball Academy, Wicks spent five months training NBA Pre-Draft prospects at the Impact Basketball Academy in Las Vegas. His draft class trainees included Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio Spurs), Alec Burks (Utah Jazz), Isaiah Thomas (Boston Celtics), Xavier Silas (Northern Illinois), Jon Diebler (Ohio State), Malcom Lee (UCLA), and Jordan Williams (Maryland).
Wicks began his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant under the legendary Don Meyer for two seasons (2004-06). During his tenure, he helped the Wolves reach the NCAA Division II Sweet 16 in 2005-06. He then joined the Colorado staff for one season (2006-07) as an assistant coach before moving onto Northern Illinois, where he served for four seasons (2007-11) under head coach Ricardo Patton. With the Buffalos and the Huskies, Wicks played an instrumental role in the development of Xavier Silas, who earned first-team All-Mid-American Conference honors in 2010-11 after leading the MAC in scoring with a 22.3 point per game average.
An outstanding collegiate player with the Wolves, Wicks ended his four-year collegiate career as the 25th all-time leading scorer in school history with 1,174 points and helped the NSU to back-to-back Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference titles in 2002 and 2003. A 2-time All-NSIC first team selection, Wicks started every game (105) in his career and was also a 2-time all-conference academic honoree. Wicks remains a member of the NSU record books sitting 29th all-time in scoring (1,174) and 10th all-time in rebounding (665). Wicks was also a member of the Northern State track and field team competing in the 400-meter hurdles, where he was a 2-time All-NSIC performer. As a senior he was honored with the Northern State Clark Swisher Award.
Following his collegiate career, Wicks played professionally in Sweden’s top division for one year with the Sodertalje Kings, leading the team in both scoring (18.0) and rebounding (8.0). He helped the Kings reach the semifinals of the Swedish Cup and was the only American listed in the top-20 of every statistical category at the end of the season.
Wicks is a 2003 and 2006 graduate of Northern State University with a bachelor’s degree in international business and master’s degree in health, physical education, and coaching.
http://www.nsuwolves.com/news/2017/6/27/mens-basketball-wicks-promoted-to-associate-head-coach.aspx
