The Southern Utah men’s basketball team and head coach Todd Simon have announced changes to the coaching staff ahead of the 2021-22 season.
Aerick Sanders has joined the staff as an assistant coach, bringing a wealth of international and collegiate experience. Sanders was an assistant coach at New Mexico State University from 2013-17 where he helped direct the Aggies to a pair of Western Athletic Conference Championships, a pair of Tournament Championships, two NCAA Tournament appearances and an NIT appearance. Sanders was also an assistant coach at Montana State for the 2012-13 season.
Sanders is coming to Cedar City from Las Vegas where he is the owner and executive director of Sanders Sports Academy. Over the last four years he has also been the head coach at Democracy Preparatory Academy and the Director of Player Personnel at UNLV under head coach Marvin Menzies.
Sanders played college basketball for San Diego State and graduated in 2006 with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science. After graduating from SDSU, Sanders played professional basketball overseas in Turkey, Spain, France, Israel, Latvia, and Portugal until 2011. He earned his Master’s Degree in Education from New Mexico State in 2019.
“Coach Sanders brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the program. He’s had success as a player, played the game professionally, and won championships in the WAC. He will provide excellent mentorship to our student athletes.”
After five seasons as the Director of Basketball Operations for the Thunderbirds, Bryce Martin has been promoted to Assistant Coach, joining Sanders and current assistant coach Flynn Clayman as Simon’s coaching staff. Martin has been an essential part of the Thunderbirds’ championship run that culminated in a Big Sky Regular Season Championship in 2020-21. Prior to his time at SUU, Martin served as the Director of Basketball Operations at Santa Clara and San Jose State University. Martin is a graduate of Boise State University where he also served as a Head Manager for the Broncos.
“Coach Martin has been a hard working unsung hero for the program over the past 5 seasons. His loyalty and enthusiasm has been integral to the success of the team. In addition to the behind the scenes impact, Coach Martin has built outstanding relationships with players, the campus, the community and in basketball circles.”
Jonathan Wills has joined the staff as a Special Assistant. Wills comes to Cedar City from Dominican University in San Rafael, California where he was the associate head coach for the past two seasons. During his time at Dominican, Wills was tasked with leading the defense and overseeing player development.
Wills started his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Washington during the 2018-19 season, helping the Huskies win a Pac-12 Regular Season Championship. Prior to that, Wills was the head coach at Mayfair High School in Lakewood, California.
Wills played college basketball at the University of New Mexico and Fresno State, graduating from Fresno State with a Bachelor’s Degree in African-American Studies and a minor in Psychology.
“Coach Wills is a bright coaching mind that will add a lot of value to our program. His experience at his various levels will provide quality mentorship to our student athletes.”
German Srulovich has been promoted from Special Assistant to Director of Basketball Operations. Srulovich joined the Thunderbirds in 2020 and was the lead Analytics Coordinator for the program. Prior to coming to Cedar City, Srulovich was an assistant coach at the College of Central Florida for the 2019-20 season. Srulovich was also an assistant coach for Hapoel Jerusalem from 2017-2019 where he did scouting, video breakdown and practices that focused on offensive and defensive breakdowns and specific player development. Additionally, Srulovich has also been a video intern for the Sacramento Kings, a head coach for GBA Sparta Prague and an assistant video coordinator at the University of San Francisco.
“Coach Srulovich is a big piece to our program and has added tremendous value with his basketball mind and ability to break down the game. His diverse coaching background is another important resource for our student athletes to be able to tap into.”
