Sundance Wicks Position: Assistant Coach Experience: 2nd Year Alma Mater: Northern State, '03

Assistant men's basketball coach Sundance Wicks enters his third year on the Northern Illinois staff, and the fourth overall under head coach Ricardo Patton, in the 2009-10 season. Wicks also served one season on Patton's staff at Colorado.

Wicks, 28, coaches the Huskies' frontline players, and handles NIU's non-conference scheduling. He also assists with film editing, scouting, individual workouts and recruiting, and is in charge of the NIU Basketball Camps. At both Colorado and NIU, Wicks has been instrumental in the development of sophomore forward Sean Kowal, who recorded a 55.1 field goal percentage last season, the leading mark in the Mid-American Conference.

Patton lured Wicks away from his alma mater, Northern State, prior to Colorado's 2006-07 campaign. Wicks was the second assistant under Northern State legendary head coach Don Meyer to join the Buffs' staff in the prior three years. Meyer became the winningest coach in NCAA men's basketball history last season.

As an assistant coach at NSU (2004-06), Wicks helped his alma mater reach the playoffs in both seasons and during the 2005-06 campaign, helped the Wolves earn a berth in the NCAA Division II "Sweet Sixteen."

During his playing days at Northern State, Wicks ended his four-year career as the 25th all-time scorer in school history with 1,174 points, and helped lead the Wolves to a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) titles in 2002 and 2003. Wicks was a two-time All-NSIC First-Team selection and started every game in his career (105 games). In the classroom, he was a two-time all-conference academic honoree (2001-02, 2002-03) and was named NSU's Clark Swisher Male Athlete of the Year in 2003.

During his senior season, Wicks led the Wolves in scoring (14.1 ppg) and rebounding (7.5 rpg), recorded eight double-doubles and was ranked in the NSIC top-10 in both categories. Wicks earned his bachelor's degree in international business in 2003, along with a master's of science in health, physical education and coaching in 2006.

After completing his college career at NSU, Wicks played professionally in Sweden's top division for one year, leading the Sodertalje Kings in both scoring (18.0 ppg) and rebounding (8.0 rpg). While helping teach younger Swedish players the skills of the game, Wicks guided the Kings to the semifinals of the Swedish Cup. He 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, Wyo., Wicks graduated from Campbell County High School in 1999, where he lettered in football, basketball and track and field. In 1999, he was named Wyoming's Millward Simpson Athlete of the Year.

Wicks was a part of two high school basketball championships (1996-97 and 1998-99), and in his senior season, won a trio of state championships in football (Campbell County's first since 1969), basketball and track and field, where he captured the individual state title in the 300-meter hurdles, and was the state runner-up in the 110-meter high hurdles.