Canisius University Athletics

Former Hillsborough Community College head coach Derrick Worrels is entering his second year as an assistant coach on Tom Parrotta's staff. Worrels joined the Golden Griffins' program in July 2010 after spending the previous 11 years as the Hawks' head coach in Tampa, Fla.

At Canisius, Worrels works with the post players and handles in-game coaching, along with opponent scouting and potential student-athlete recruiting. He also assists with day-to-day practice planning.

A 1993 graduate of UNC-Asheville, Worrels helped lead Hillsborough to nine-regular or conference tournament championships from 1999-2010, while being named the Suncoast Conference Coach of the Year three times, most recently after the 2009-10 campaign. Over a period of six years, Worrels' teams averaged 20 wins per season and after the 2009-10 campaign, seven players received all-league recognition, including Marial Dhal, who is entering his senior season on the Canisius roster. Worrels left the Hillsborough program with 206 career wins, which ranks second in school history, and he also left the program with a 90 percent graduation success rate.

In his time at Hillsborough, a total of 20 former student-athletes went on to play collegiately at the Division I level, with one of those players, Othello Hunter, earning a roster spot with the Atlanta Hawks after closing out his college career at Ohio State.

Worrels took over the reigns of the Hillsborough men's basketball program in 1999 after he spent a year-and-a-half as the head women's basketball coach at the school. He began his college coaching career in 1989 as an assistant at Hillsborough, and he went on to handle a variety of roles at the school, including serving as an associate athletic director, an adjunct professor and an enrollment development coordinator. As a player on the Hawks' roster, Worrels was part of back-to-back 23 win seasons as the Hawks received the program's highest national ranking in school history.