Julius Hicks, who starred at West Valley College and later returned as an assistant coach, has been reunited with Coach Bob Burton as he joins the basketball staff at Cal State Fullerton.

Working with the interior players and recruiting will be the main areas of responsibility for Hicks, an imposing figure at a solid 6-foot-8.

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 replaced 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-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 children -- Jamie and Corri -- and they reside in Anaheim.