The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay received a $705,000 buyout when head men's basketball coach Sundance Wicks left for the University of Wyoming.
The buyout figure was written into Wicks' contract if he left prior to April 1, 2025.
Athletic director Josh Moon hired Wicks to engineer a rebuild of the UWGB basketball program, and Wicks' delivered, earning Horizon League Coach of the Year in the process.
According to a post on UWGB's website, the $705,000 figure for Wicks was on the high end for a school like UWGB, especially when considering he received a $235,000 base salary for his first season.
“That was intentional,” Moon said. “We talked about that, saying based on where our program was at and based on him being a first time DI head coach as well. It’s part of the discussion as you go through the interview process that it’s crystal clear. Like, we are taking a leap here. You are taking a leap with us. Part of this is that we are not trying to stop you from going somewhere in the future, but if you do, like after two or three years the (buyout figure) starts going down pretty favorably for Sunny.”
That buyout would have decreased the longer Wicks had remained at UWGB, declined to $475,000 in 2026, $350,000 in 2027, $150,000 in 2028 and $50,000 in 2029.
When UWGB hired Doug Gottlieb as Wicks’ replacement, they agreed to a buyout even higher than the one Wicks had.
If Gottlieb leaves for another school any time prior to the Friday after the men’s national championship game in 2026, the buyout is $850,000. The figure goes down to $650,000 in 2027, $300,000 in 2028 and $100,000 in 2029.
Wyoming paid the full $705,000 buyout price to hire Wicks away from the Phoenix.
“With Wyoming, it was a great conversation with their AD,” Moon said. “They wanted to move fast, and the key is to just be honest. Like, ‘This is where we are at.’ In this case, it was $705,000. We talked through some scenarios and some options and could we do a multiyear thing. At the end of the day, it was best for us, best for them, to just move forward.”
