Canisius College men's basketball coach Jim Baron announced today that Mike Iuzzolino has been named the program's director of basketball operations. A former professional basketball player who brings more than a decade of playing experience from the NBA and overseas, Iuzzolino joins the Golden Griffins' staff after serving as the associate head men's basketball coach at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., for the previous three seasons.

"Mike is a tremendous addition to our staff as our director of basketball operations," Baron said. "He had a great career playing for me at St. Francis (Pa.) and carried that on to the NBA and then overseas. For as good as he was on the court, he was that good, if not better in the classroom. He was a real student-athlete who can serve as a role model for our guys and I'm proud to be working with him again."

A native of Altoona, Pa., Iuzzolino played his final two collegiate seasons under Baron at St. Francis (Pa.), after he started his college career at Penn State. The 1991 Northeast Conference Player of the Year and NEC Tournament MVP, Iuzzolino helped lead the Red Flash to the school's only NCAA Tournament berth with his 24.1 points per game scoring average. A two-time CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-American and the 1991 CoSIDA All-Academic Player of the Year, he was drafted in the second round (35th overall) by the Dallas Mavericks in the 1991 NBA Draft. He ended up playing two seasons for Dallas, where he averaged 9.0 points, 4.3 assists and 2.0 rebounds per game in 122 career contests. During the 1991-92 NBA season, he finished the year ranked fourth in the NBA in 3-point field goal percentage after he shot 43.4 percent from long range.

He played two years in the CBA before traveling overseas to play in the premier league in Italy for six seasons. He closed out his professional career in Greece and Spain. Iuzzolino began his coaching career with the Duquesne women's basketball program before spending one season on the women's basketball staff at George Mason. At Saint Vincent, he coordinated all recruiting efforts and dealt with game preparation and the program's offense as the Bearcats posted a total of 43 wins in three seasons and made back-to-back appearances in the Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal round.