Sundance Wicks was hired as the new head men’s basketball coach at Missouri Western in March.
Wicks joins Missouri Western fresh off the NCAA Division II national championship game as the associate head coach at his alma mater, Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He brings extensive experience to Missouri Western as an assistant coach at the Division II and Division I levels.
“To say that I am jacked up to be the next men’s basketball coach at Missouri Western would be an understatement,” Wicks said. “This job, in my opinion, is a sleeping giant and I’m ready to wake up the beast and help transform this program into one the St. Joseph community will rally behind for years to come. This is an exciting time for Griffon Athletics. You can tell by all the energy and enthusiasm throughout the athletic department and the campus community that Missouri Western is ready for the fight and about to take flight.”
“Every day I will bring the juice,” Wicks said in the release. “People call me the ‘Juice Man’ for a reason and there is a level of crazy that comes with being a guy who brings an insane amount of energy every day; and that crazy is waking up and attacking every day with your faith, a passion for what you do and a relentless attitude to win the day at hand.”
Wicks has served as associate head coach at Northern State since 2016. While there, he helped lead the Wolves to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular season and postseason championships this year. Northern State also claimed the Central Region championship en route to the program’s first-ever appearance in the national championship game.
“When this search process started, our mission was to find a coach who possessed two defining characteristics: someone who was a relentless recruiter and someone who has been part of building a championship culture at the NCAA Division II level,” said Josh Looney, director of Athletics. “With Sunny, we not only found a proven recruiter and winner, but we also found someone with an unwavering commitment to engaging and motivating communities through basketball. His energy and passion for basketball are unmistakable and he is the perfect fit to lead the resurgence of our men’s basketball program.”
“This is an exciting time for Griffon Athletics,” Wicks said. “You can tell by all the energy and enthusiasm throughout the athletic department and the campus community that Missouri Western is ready for the fight and about to take flight.”
After lettering four years as a student athlete and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in international business at Northern State, Wicks held assistant coaching positions at his alma mater, Colorado (2006-07), Northern Illinois (2007-11) and San Francisco (2015-16). Wicks also built the Arizona Power Basketball Academy, serving as a skill instructor and director from 2011-15. Prior to launching the APBA, he spent five months training NBA pre-draft prospects at the Impact Basketball Academy in Las Vegas. Wicks’ draft class trainees included Kawhi Leonard, Alec Burks and Isaiah Thomas.
As a student-athlete, Wicks was twice named first team All-NSIC, scoring 1,174 points and pulling down 665 rebounds in his career. He was also a two-time All-NSIC performer in the 400-meter hurdles at Northern State. After graduation, Wicks played for the Sodertalje Kings in Sweden. He led the team in points and rebounding.
He also holds a master’s degree in health, physical education and coaching from Northern State.
CLICK HERE to view the introductory Wicks interview at Missouri Western
