UWGB players must decide if they want to enter transfer portal after departure of Sundance Wicks
GREEN BAY – The wait continues for the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball team.
UWGB not only needs a new coach after Sundance Wicks was hired by Wyoming on Sunday, but it also must figure out how many current players plan to stick around rather than enter the NCAA transfer portal in the next month.
Horizon League freshman of the year David Douglas Jr. was the first domino to fall Monday night when he put his name into the portal, although he could still find his way back to the team.
"Green Bay is still an option," Douglas said.
One day after Wicks said goodbye to the Phoenix, most of the other players he recruited here either didn’t have a definitive answer about staying or didn’t respond when asked about it.
UWGB likely will find it difficult to improve on the 18 wins it had in 2023-24 now that it has lost the Horizon League’s coach of the year, the league’s newcomer of the year in guard Noah Reynolds (signed with TCU) and its leading rebounder in forward Elijah Jones (signed with Charleston).
It’s almost impossible to imagine the Phoenix won’t lose some players to the portal. The question is how many?
“I’m not sure yet what I am going to do,” said guard Preston Ruedinger, a former Oshkosh Lourdes standout who started 22 games after transferring from Valparaiso to join Wicks in Green Bay.
UWGB’s promising combo of Douglas and forward Marcus Hall were two of the best rookies in the Horizon this season, and there is no doubt the new coach would love to keep both.
It’s also a good bet Wicks would help pack their bags to join him in Wyoming while he rebuilds a Cowboys roster that had several players enter the portal after former coach Jeff Linder was hired as an assistant at Texas Tech.
Hall did not return a message regarding his future. Neither did guard Foster Wonders. Of the recent trio of commits Wicks landed in center Scottie Ebube, forward Cole Henry and former Neenah guard Chevalier Emery Jr., Henry and Emery did not respond while Ebube said he's trying to figure out whether he still plans to come to Green Bay.
It is difficult for players to make an informed decision without knowing who their coach is or how they fit into a system.
With so much silence, it’s anyone’s guess how many of them UWGB has a better chance of keeping if it promotes assistant Pat Monaghan rather than go outside the program.
Monaghan won’t bring the “juice” the way Wicks did in terms of such a bold personality.
But nobody really can mimic the style that helped Wicks make a jump up the coaching ranks from the Horizon to the Mountain West that likely doubled his salary. He did it all despite one season as a DI head coach and despite his team not even making the semifinal round of the Horizon tournament.
Monaghan played a part in recruiting many of the players on the roster and was responsible for running the defense this season, which was the stingiest in the league after allowing 69 points per game. It was almost two points fewer than any of the other 10 teams in the conference.
One player who does plan to stick with UWGB is another prospect Monaghan helped recruit.
Hartland Arrowhead star guard Bennett Basich, who led his team to the WIAA Division 1 state title game in March, said Monday he still is all-in.
Monaghan attended Arrowhead’s sectional title win over De Pere to show support for him.
Of course, in college basketball these days, intentions can change quickly. This time last week, Wicks was fully invested in a second season at UWGB.
“As of today, the plan hasn’t changed,” said Basich, who is the only prep player joining the team. “Planning to be a Phoenix.”
Josh Moon dives into search for new UWGB coach
UWGB athletic director Josh Moon has his work cut out for him in the short term. If he hasn’t been perfect in every move he’s made with the men’s team since arriving in Green Bay in 2021, it’s as close to perfect as one can get.
Not only is he the person who hired Wicks, but he also signed him to a contract extension last month that included a $705,000 buyout if Wicks left before April 1, 2025.
For a school that had to pay more than $700,000 after firing former coach Linc Darner in 2020 and another $445,000 after firing Will Ryan in 2023, Moon was able to recoup a good amount of it.
He already was busy finding Wicks’ replacement Monday and said he was working “multiple streams.”
Moon is like most ADs in that he keeps things close to the vest while in search mode.
He went outside the box in a couple of ways last year, including giving serious consideration to basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb. The former Oklahoma State guard impressed so much in his first interview that he made it all the way to the final five by the end of the process, so it wouldn’t be crazy to think Moon could revisit the idea.
"Of course, I'm interested," said Gottlieb, who has kept in touch with Moon and loved what Wicks did this season.
Moon also could go with a proven veteran and another past finalist in former Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati coach John Brannen. He perhaps could surprise everyone for a second straight year by finding someone from his past who nobody knows, only for that person to put together the season Wicks just did.
Moon would like to have a coach in place perhaps as soon as this week so the program can reboot its offseason.
The good news is he’s used to the process.
This is his third coaching search for basketball in 14 months after hiring Wicks and naming Kayla Karius the women’s coach last month after Kevin Borseth retired.
“In today’s world, it’s always chaos,” Moon said, laughing. “Especially these last two, three years. I don’t know if the timing really matters that much anymore, to be honest with you. There are multiple scholarships still open here.
“Would we have preferred it to be March or right at the end of the season? Sure. But I think in today’s world, it’s such a chaotic environment that it isn’t as big a deal as it was five years ago.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB players weigh futures as they wait for new men's basketball coach
