A new era is beginning for UW-Green Bay Phoenix men’s basketball as University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Director of Athletics Josh Moon appointed Sundance Wicks to become the 9th head coach in the history of the program. Coach Sundance Wicks is taking over a program that finished last season last in the Horizon League with an overall record of 3-29 and a conference record of 2-18. One of those wins came against UW-Milwaukee, who finished the regular season tied with the second-best conference record of 14-6. The high-energy coach is known for bringing the “juice” everywhere he is. That is one of the things that got him here in this position today.
Prior to UW-Green Bay, he was the Head Coach at Missouri Western for 2 seasons from 2018-2020, where he compiled a 30-32 record. But the head coaching record doesn’t tell the entire story. In his first season, he went 12-18 with a conference record of 6-13, which was a 6-win improvement from the previous season before he was hired, and it was also the program’s best record since the 2015-16 season. Then in his second season, Missouri Western finished 18-14 with a conference record of 13-6, which was the first time they finished above .500 since the 2009-10 season. An impressive second-year improvement. He then got hired as an assistant coach at the University of Wyoming, where in his first season, he helped the Cowboys lead the Mountain West in scoring with 76.5 points per game.
So how much has Coach Wicks grown from his last head coaching stint? “One of the reasons I took the Wyoming job is because I thought there were blind spots in my ability, and I wanted to grow and learn from the best offensive coach in the game at the college level. Understanding spacing and manipulating spacing and being able to create that advantage. I would say I better understand whom I want my identity to be on the offensive side of the ball. I felt really good in the foundation defensively,” said the new Head Coach.
UW-Green Bay is looking for that spark to ignite not just an offense that finished dead last in the Horizon League conference in average points per game with 59.3 PPG but also a defense that had the second-highest average points allowed per game in the conference with 76.5 points allowed per game with a -17.2 margin.
A new coach for the program brings new hope, optimism, and intrigue to Phoenix fans. Ben Wendorf, a student at UW-Green Bay, expressed his excitement about what the new coach brings. “Not knowing a whole lot about Coach Wicks when they hired him, he’s made quite the first impression. His energetic approach to the program is a breath of fresh air and, quite frankly, is what I believe our men’s basketball program and university need. Back when guys like Keifer Sykes played for the Phoenix, there was a buzz in the community about Green Bay basketball. My hope is that Coach Wicks can build the program back up to that level and beyond, including getting back to the NCAA tournament. I believe his background and experience make him more than ready to take our men’s basketball program to new heights,” Wendorf said.
Sundance Wicks is one of the first major hires for new Director of Athletics Josh Moon. Josh Moon was hired by the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in the summer of 2021. Being one of the first major hires from a new Director of Athletics can come with some pressure to which Coach Wicks explained that he expects pressure. “There should be pressure 100%,” Wicks said. “If there isn’t pressure then why are you even here? Pressure is good but stress is bad. You want pressure and that is what makes this job so exciting because you want to re-establish what was already built within this program. We want to get this program back to where it was and honor the past and honor the guys who built this before us,” Wicks said.
When Director of Athletics Josh Moon was in the hiring process, he wanted someone with a detailed plan, and he thought Coach Wicks had a very detailed plan that lined up with his vision of what he wanted for the future of this basketball program. “Recruiting, connecting, navigating the NIL portal, everything he hit out of the park,” Moon said of Wicks.
Josh Moon is no stranger to Wicks–he had previously been connected with him at Northern State University, where Wicks was an assistant coach at his alma mater, where they were the runner-up in the 2018 Division 2 NCAA men’s basketball national tournament. Moon was the Director of Athletics during that same time frame. Knowing he could trust him helped make the hiring process a little clear. “I knew what I was getting. I was getting passion and relentless energy,” Moon said.
The men’s basketball team will be seeing a lot of new faces this year. The team lost a lot of their roster from last year. But the team is also bringing on a good number of signees. Wicks explained what he looks for in recruits to which he answered that he likes to speak in acronyms and that he looks for FITS. “The F stands for feel. Guys with a high feel for the game, the I is having the “IT” factor. The T stands for toughness. Guys got to be intelligent and tough. The S stands for skill. They have to be a threat, whether an elite rebounder, shooter, or playmaker. It is important to have guys who have that weaponry because you can’t have guys who are good at something and great at nothing. You have to have guys with that gravity where the defense gets pulled to you because they have that threat or skill.”
“Juice” has been a key word to describe Wicks and his style and brand by many people around the area. But where does he get all that juice? Wicks said he’s always been like that. “I’ve always been a pretty naturally energetic kid growing up,” he said. “Just a lot of internal juice. Looking back on how I was when I was 17 or 18, I had a spirit about me, and I feel each human being has their own spirit, and to me, that is your juice–who you naturally are every single day. We all have gifts, and I feel like my gift is to have exceedingly wild and contagious energy.”
Wicks also used another acronym when describing his practice style, saying it is a HIVE mentality meaning “High-Intensity Violent Effort,” which he further said is “when you come in, you got to work, and you got to practice the way you play, there will be a lot of 5 on 5 and skill development.” He also said that rebounding is going to be key. “No rebounds, no rings,” Wicks said.
While the season is a little far out, Coach Wicks wasn’t shy to share his thoughts on what Phoenix fans can expect this season. “16 wins in the past 3 seasons and 3 wins total last season is not the standard at all for this program. Our goal is to show these fans and show this community that we can be better than what we have been. We want to have a winning season, and that’s the goal. We want to show people that we can win as many games as we did in the past 3 seasons, this season,” Wicks said.
Director of Athletics Josh Moon also gave his thoughts on what people can expect from new Head Coach Sundance Wicks. Moon talked about three things on what to expect. “Tremendous energy, improvement, and intentionality.” Moon also added how you could see Wicks interact with a lot of fans throughout the community and the game. “Just fun. A fun environment that is going to feel intentional and connective. And people are going to feel connected,” Moon said.
