Dan Ficke

Dan Ficke was introduced as MSU Denver men's basketball head coach on April 21, 2022.

Ficke quickly put together an impressive recruiting class in short order, bringing in the likes of eventual RMAC Co-Freshman of the Year Brayden Maldonado and Division I transfer Caleb McGill after inheriting a threadbare roster. Implementing his style of uptempo, unselfish and unrelenting basketball for 2022-23, the Roadrunners went 12-17 overall, including 9-13 to tie for seventh in a treacherous Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference that saw four different teams ranked in the national top 10 throughout the season. MSU Denver knocked off one of those teams, at Colorado Mesa, in just Ficke's second conference game, and lost to another, Fort Lewis, in the closing seconds.

A Denver native, Ficke spent the previous three seasons as the head coach at Division II Belmont Abbey (N.C.), directing the Crusaders to a 61-25 record and three appearances in the national tournament. Belmont Abbey played in three straight Conference Carolinas Tournament championship games, winning the last two.

Ficke, a Regis Jesuit High School alum, played college basketball at Division I Loyola (Md.) before embarking on his coaching career. Prior to his successful run at Belmont Abbey, Ficke spent four seasons (2015-16 through 2018-19) as an assistant at Division I Denver. Among the highlights during his time at DU was helping the Pioneers lead the Summit League in scoring while finishing second in 3-point percentage during the 2017-18 season.

Prior to his experience at Denver, Ficke spent two seasons, 2013-14 through 2014-15, as an assistant coach at his alma mater. Before that, Ficke was on the staff at Wake Forest, where he was was promoted to special assistant to the head coach/director of scouting and recruiting in 2012-13 after two seasons as the program's assistant director of operations.

Ficke’s first coaching job came in 2009-10, when he was the junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant at Boy’s Latin School of Maryland.

At Loyola, Ficke was a part of some of the most successful Division I teams in program history. The Greyhounds won 64 games over those seasons, including the 2007-08 team that won a then-school record 19. He graduated in 2009 with his bachelor's degree in business administration and earned his master’s of business administration in 2010.

As a high school player, Ficke served as team captain during his junior and senior seasons, and averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds as a senior, earning all-state second team and all-conference honors.