May 14, 2008

Fullerton, Calif. - Julius Hicks, who starred at West Valley College and later returned as an assistant coach, has joined Coach Bob Burton's men's basketball staff at Cal State Fullerton.

Hicks was an assistant last season at Pepperdine, where Vance Walberg resigned midway through the season. Hicks previously was director of basketball operations under Coach Trent Johnson at Stanford (2006-07) after two California JC Final Eight seasons (2004-05 and 2005-06) at West Valley under Coach Danny Yoshikawa.

Hicks replaces Jason Levy, who resigned after eight seasons to join Bill Bayno's new staff at Loyola Marymount.

Hicks played for Coach Burton at West Valley in the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons. He earned all-state and All-American honors as West Valley went 54-12 in his two seasons and he averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds. He went on to play at Oregon for two injury-plagued seasons (1999-2000 and 2000-01), serving as team captain as a senior. He played two seasons professionally in Switzerland (2001-02) and South Korea and Austria (2002-03).

Hicks is a graduate of St. Ignatius High School in San Francisco. He received his bachelors degree in sociology from Oregon in 2001. He and his wife, Katherine, have two cihldren -- Jamie and Corri.