Wyoming hires ex-assistant Wicks as hoops coach
Sundance Wicks, who led Green Bay to an 18-14 record and was the Horizon League Coach of the Year, is the new head basketball coach at Wyoming.
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— Julio Rodríguez and Mitch Garver both hit two-run home runs, Luis Castillo allowed two runs over six strong innings, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics 8-4 on Sunday.
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Wyoming has hired former assistant Sundance Wicks as the Cowboys' new men's basketball coach, the school announced Sunday.
His contract is for five seasons, sources told ESPN.
Wicks spent last season as the coach for Green Bay, where he led the Phoenix to an 18-14 record, 15 wins more than the previous season -- one of the biggest turnarounds in college basketball. The native of Gillette, Wyoming, was a former assistant with the Cowboys from 2020 to 2023. He also was the coach at Missouri Western from 2018 to 2020.
"I am honored, humbled and immensely grateful for this opportunity at the University of Wyoming," Wicks said. "... You cannot put into words what it means for a kid from the country roads outside of Gillette to represent the State of Wyoming and the Cowboys as their new head basketball coach."
He replaces Jeff Linder, who has been in the process of finalizing a deal in recent days to become the top assistant coach at Texas Tech after going 63-59 over four seasons with Wyoming.
"Sundance will bring a great energy to our program and the entire State of Wyoming," Wyoming athletic director Tom Burman said. "Being a native of this great state, Wicks knows the pride Cowboy fans take in the program and he will work tirelessly for his student-athletes and the community."
Wyoming's program has made 16 NCAA tournament appearances. Its most recent came under Linder in 2022, with Wicks as an assistant, when Wyoming lost in the First Four. Prior to that appearance, Wyoming last reached the NCAA tournament in 2015 under Larry Shyatt.
"If there is one thing, I learned growing up in Wyoming it's that when you Honor the Brown and Gold, you are honoring so much more than just the University of Wyoming," Wicks said. "You are honoring every single hard hat that woke up before the sun to work the coal mines. ... Honoring the Brown and Gold is the understanding that a tip of the cap, a steering wheel wave, a hard handshake or a big hug is how you lift your people up in support of a hard day's work."
Wicks' résumé includes extensive Division I assistant coaching experience, with stops at San Francisco, Northern Illinois and Colorado.
He led Green Bay to instant success in his lone season there, as the Phoenix finished third in the Horizon League and he was named the conference's coach of the year. The team's 13 conference wins was the most by the Phoenix since the 2013-14 season.
Wicks also won the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year, which is presented every year to the top first-year head coach in Division I college basketball.
The improvement at Green Bay showed both in the win column and in the efficiency metrics, as the Phoenix improved to 230th last season under Wicks in the KenPom.com rankings after being third worst (No. 361) in 2022-23.
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SEATTLE -- — Julio Rodríguez and Mitch Garver both hit two-run home runs, Luis Castillo allowed two runs over six strong innings, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics 8-4 on Sunday.
Seattle rebounded to take two of three games from the A’s after the Mariners lost their first series in nearly a month earlier this week in Minnesota. And they did it thanks to the long ball.
“Our offense showed up today. Put good pressure on them early, got some big hits, home runs,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “I think I mentioned it last night, I really liked where Julio was headed. His timing looks so much better and we saw it today.”
Rodríguez's homer was just his second of the season and his first at T-Mobile Park in Seattle’s 22nd home game. Rodríguez hit a 2-2 pitch from Oakland starter Alex Wood out to straightaway center field in the second inning for a two-run shot that gave Seattle a 5-0 lead. The homer had an exit velocity of 109 mph and traveled an estimated 409 feet.
“You've got to stay patient and let the results come and I feel like today was the day and I'm really happy about that, that I was able to help the team win,” Rodríguez said.
Rodríguez nearly homered in his next at-bat in the fifth inning, doubling off the top of the wall, but jogged home when Garver hit his fifth of the season to give Seattle a 7-1 lead. Garver also had a two-out RBI single in the first inning.
Seby Zavala added his first home run of the season for the Mariners, a solo shot in the sixth.
Following a sluggish start to the season, Castillo (4-5) has now gone six straight starts allowing two earned runs or fewer each time. Castillo needed 100 pitches to get through six innings, but closed his outing with strikeouts of Shea Langeliers and J.D. Davis with runners on base.
Castillo allowed seven hits and struck out eight. Max Schuemann and Abraham Toro both hit solo home runs to account for the scoring off Castillo.
“The beginning of the season, sometimes it's a little cold. I didn't let that get to me. I stayed focused and I knew better times were going to come,” Castillo said via an interpreter. “I just worked on what I could.”
Brent Rooker hit his 10th homer of the season in the eighth inning off reliever Cody Bolton. It was a two-run shot.
Wood (1-3) wasn’t sharp, lasted just two innings and wasn’t helped by Schuemann’s error to open the second inning that led to four unearned runs for Seattle. Wood allowed four hits but was charged with just one earned run allowed.
After a six-game win streak, the A’s have now dropped six of the past eight games.
“These guys battled back. Every time we scored, they ended up scoring. As much as we’ve been able to lock it down in games that we’ve trailed in — and we actually have come back in a few of them — today we just weren’t able to do that in the bullpen,” A's manager Mark Kotsay said.
UP NEXT
Athletics: RHP Ross Stripling (1-6, 5.14) will open a three-game series at Houston on Monday. Stripling gave up 10 hits and 11 runs — but only five earned runs — over 1 2/3 innings in his previous start against Texas.
Mariners: RHP George Kirby (3-3, 4.15) will start the opener of a three-game series with Kansas City on Monday. Kirby gave up four runs over five innings in his previous start against Minnesota.
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