University of San Francisco head men’s basketball coach Rex Walters has appointed Sundance Wicks to the position of assistant coach.
Wicks previously held assistant coaching positions at Northern State (2004-06), Colorado (2006-07) and Northern Illinois (2007-11). For the past four years, he built Arizona Power Basketball Academy (APBA) from the ground up and served as a skills instructor and program director at the Gilbert, Ariz.-based APBA.
He is the older brother of USF associated head coach Luke Wicks, who has served on the staff for the last three seasons. It is believed USF is the only Division I school to have a set of brothers coaching within the same program.
“I am excited about the addition of Sundance Wicks to our coaching staff, said Walters. “Sundance comes from one of the top AAU programs in the nation that he helped start from the ground up with the Arizona Power Program. His experience as an assistant coach as well as a successful college and professional player brings a wealth of experiences that I know will add so much for our players, coaches, team and program.
“I’m also excited to see and work with one of the few if not only brother coaching combinations in the NCAA. We may well have one of the most positive, enthusiastic and experienced coaching staffs in the country. Sundance is no doubt fired up to help our players, our team and our program get to the next level.”
Prior to launching Arizona Power Basketball Academy, Wicks spent five months training NBA Pre-Draft prospects at the Impact Basketball Academy in Las Vegas. Some of the 2011 draft class trainees included Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs; Alec Burks; of the Utah Jazz; Isaiah Thomas of the Boston Celtics; Xavier Silas of Northern Illinois, the nation’s fifth-leading scorer in 2010-11; Jon Diebler of Ohio State, who was selected in the second round of the 2011 NBA Draft by Portland; Malcom Lee of UCLA, a second round draft pick of the Chicago Bulls in 2011; former Maryland standout Jordan Williams, who was selected by the New Jersey Nets in the second round of the 2011 draft.
“I cannot begin to express how excited I am to become a part of Coach Walters’ staff and the deeply entrenched tradition of basketball on the Hilltop,” said Wicks. “Anytime you get a chance to work at a university that has not one, but two national championship banners hanging in your gym you consider yourself in rare air.
“I feel extremely blessed to be a part of the USF family and look forward to building on the traditions of excellence on the court, in the classroom and out in the community.”
Wicks began his collegiate coaching career at his alma mater, Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota, where he served 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 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) on Ricardo Patton’s Huskie staff. At both Colorado and Northern Illinois, he 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 at Northern State, Wicks ended his four-year collegiate career as the 25th all-time leading scorer in school history with 1,174 points and helped the Wolves to a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) titles in 2002 and ’03. A two-time All-NSIC first team selection, Wicks started every game (105) in his career and was also a two-time all-conference academic honoree. In 2003, he was named Northern State’s Clark Swisher Male Athlete of the Year.
Following his collegiate career, Wicks played professionally in Sweden’s top division for one year for 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.
Born August 9, 1980 in Gillette, Wyoming, Wicks is a 1999 graduate of Campbell County High School in Gillette where he lettered in football, basketball and track. He was named Wyoming’s Millward Simpson Athlete of the Year as a senior and was a member of two state basketball title-winning teams in 1996-97 and 1998-99. He also played on the state championship football team his senior year and captured the individual state title in the 300-meter hurdles and was the state runner up in the 110-meter high hurdles.
Wicks earned his bachelor’s degree in international business from Northern State in 2003 and later added a master’s degree of science in health, physical education and coaching in 2006.
