LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming has hired former Cowboys basketball assistant Sundance Wicks away from Green Bay to fill its head coaching vacancy.

Wicks went 18-14 and staged a remarkable turnaround in his lone season at Green Bay after spending three years as a Wyoming assistant on Jeff Linder’s staff. Wicks will take over for Linder.

In announcing the Wicks hiring Sunday, Wyoming said Linder had resigned “to pursue other opportunities in college basketball.” ESPN has reported that Linder, who went 63-59 in four seasons at Wyoming, is close to a deal to become an assistant on Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland’s staff.

“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,” Wicks said in a statement.

In his only season at Green Bay, Wicks won the Joe B. Hall national coach of the year award that goes annually to the top rookie head coach in Division I basketball.