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Keifer Sykes reflects on rookie season with Pacers, discusses what\u2019s next after being cut<\/p>\n
Keifer Sykes spent 46 games with the Pacers during his rookie season.<\/p>\n
James Boyd, Indianapolis Star<\/p>\n
UWGB men’s basketball coach Doug Gottlieb has rebuilt his coaching staff for the upcoming season.New hires include experienced coach Kerry Rupp as offensive coordinator and former UWGB student assistant Keil Ganz.Former UWGB star Keifer Sykes joins the staff as general manager, focusing on fundraising and recruiting.<\/p>\n
GREEN BAY \u2013 University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men\u2019s basketball coach Doug Gottlieb <\/a>spent the offseason reconstructing his roster, signing five players out of the NCAA transfer portal and welcoming two incoming freshmen.<\/p>\n But his work also involved his coaching staff.<\/p>\n With Jordan McCabe<\/a> and Damon Archibald departing, Gottlieb has added both youth and experience to go with holdovers Aerick Sanders and Jerry Smith.<\/p>\n Along with the hiring of Andy Ground earlier in the offseason as the assistant to the head coach and defensive coordinator and promoting Kaden LeCapitaine to director of operations, the Phoenix is set to add longtime coach Kerry Rupp and former UWGB student assistant Keil Ganz to the bench.<\/p>\n Gottlieb also landed a noteworthy name as the program\u2019s general manager with the hiring of UWGB legend Keifer Sykes.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want people to read a quote about a new staff and take it to mean something negative about the old staff,\u201d Gottlieb said. \u201cJordan McCabe was awesome. (Former director of operations) Dennis Harrington taught me a lot about some of the game-play things, when to call a timeout, things to run. Ways of teaching things.<\/p>\n \u201cDamon Archibald, we tell everybody, we don\u2019t have (former guard) Anthony Roy if not for Arch. He brought energy every day to practice.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, I\u2019m really excited about the staff.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a quick look at the new staff members with the season a few months away.<\/p>\n Kerry Rupp<\/p>\n Rupp has done it all in college basketball. He played for both Utah State and Southern Utah in the 1970s and has been a head coach or an assistant at the Division I level for more than two decades.<\/p>\n His first collegiate job was under Rick Majerus at Utah from 2000 to 2004 \u2014 Rupp spent the previous 24 years coaching high school sports \u2014 before becoming the associate head coach for Mike Davis at Indiana from 2004 to 2006 and an assistant for him at UAB in 2006-07.<\/p>\n Rupp was named the head coach at Louisiana Tech in 2007 and went 66-77 in four seasons.<\/p>\n He also had stints at schools such as Hawaii, Montana and Oregon State before teaming with Davis again at Detroit.<\/p>\n He will be the offensive coordinator for the Phoenix.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s obviously ridiculously overqualified for the position,\u201d Gottlieb said. \u201cFirst thing is, he was a player himself. He was a high school coach and then he was an assistant for Rick Majerus. A lot like Jerry Smith playing for Rick Pitino, if you coached with Rick Majerus, you have been taught the right way.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people who advised me on Kerry actually worked with Kerry. Everybody is like, \u2018He\u2019s a detail-oriented coach.’\u201d<\/p>\n Keil Ganz<\/p>\n When Gottlieb was hired at UWGB in May 2024, he spoke with Northern Michigan coach Matt Majkrzak, who also started his coaching career as a student assistant for the Phoenix under Brian Wardle.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause they are Green Bay guys, they are just such good guys that I was immediately drawn to them,\u201d Gottlieb said about Ganz and Majkrzak. \u201cWhen you start recruiting, you start kind of gravitating towards the Michigan Tech guys, the Northern Michigan guys. They are just really good people.<\/p>\n \u201cMy expression is that we want to put the Wisconsin back in Green Bay. We want Wisconsin kids, and they have done a great job of recruiting kids. Keil is from Green Bay. He wanted to be here. He\u2019s an excellent defensive coach.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, Gottlieb couldn\u2019t have found many coaches as connected to the Green Bay area as Ganz.<\/p>\n Along with his previous stint at UWGB, Ganz was the boys basketball coach at Kewaunee and then spent three years as a coach and recruiting coordinator under Gary Grzesk at St. Norbert College.<\/p>\n He even has a decade of experience at the AAU level in Wisconsin, coaching with the Wisconsin Jets, Wisconsin Shooters and Wisconsin Playground Club.<\/p>\n Gottlieb said Ganz will blend well with Ground’s old-school defensive style. Ganz knows all that stuff matters but can offer a few creative wrinkles.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other reality is, both Kerry and Andy are a little bit older,\u201d Gottlieb said. \u201cSo, however long they do it for, and I told them, their job is to not just coach the team, but to coach us. We are young and inexperienced, and we have got to get better.<\/p>\n \u201cI watched Northern play a ton this year, I watched them play in person against (Michigan) Tech,\u201d Gottlieb said. \u201cSo, when the job came open, I was talking to Matt. He was just like, \u2018If you are going to take (Ganz), tell me now. He\u2019s my best friend and I think he\u2019s great.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWe need someone with Green Bay ties. It\u2019s important. Again, Wisconsin is important. Green Bay is important. People who love the place, know the place, know what it takes to win here. He checks all those boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n Keifer Sykes<\/p>\n One of the greatest players in program history needs no introduction to fans.<\/p>\n Sykes was a star point guard for UWGB from 2011 to 2015 and finished his career with 2,096 points, 526 assists, 467 rebounds and 155 steals.<\/p>\n Tony Bennett (2,285) is the only UWGB player with more career points.<\/p>\n Sykes played 32 games for the Indianapolis Pacers in 2021-22 and has had a successful career overseas.<\/p>\n \u201cIt means the world to me as I’ve been granted this opportunity to have a position with the University and a program that truly changed my life,” Sykes said in a statement. \u201cI was born in Chicago, but I was raised in Green Bay, where I became an adult, and the love and support from the community is what ultimately helped me grow and thrive in my time as a student and after.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Green Bay, my teammates, coaches, and peers all grew and succeeded together, and that’s what I’m looking forward to continuing to do with me being back with the Green Bay Phoenix. As a forward and high-performing group, we will collectively continue to build and mentor the student-athletes, and I’m passionately looking forward to helping develop the program on and off the court.”<\/p>\n Gottlieb knows it\u2019s important when running a program to connect with the past teams and players, especially successful ones.<\/p>\n Gottlieb watched Sykes and former center Alec Brown lead some good UWGB teams. He also has known Wardle, a former Marquette player, since the days when Gottlieb was being heavily recruited by the Golden Eagles. \u00a0<\/p>\n When Gottlieb got the job, he reached out to Sykes.<\/p>\n