Canisius head men’s basketball coach Jim Baron announced today that Mike Iuzzolino will return to the Golden Griffins’ as an assistant coach. Iuzzolino, the team’s former director of basketball operations during the 2012-13 season, will replace Mike Mennenga, who left the program last week to take an assistant coaching position at Oregon.
“I think it is going to be great to have Mike back on our coaching staff,” Baron said. “He was one of my first players at St. Francis (Pa.) and he ended his career as the NEC Player of the Year and as a Academic All-American. He went on to have a great pro career and since he retired from professional basketball, he’s worked very hard to become a good coach who understands the college game at all levels.”
Last season, Iuzzolino was the director of basketball operations at the University of New Mexico, where he worked on the staff of first-year head coach Craig Neal. In his one season with the Lobos, Iuzzolino was a part of the basketball staff that helped lead New Mexico to a 27-7 overall record, a Mountain West Tournament championship and a berth into the NCAA Tournament.
“I am very excited for the opportunity to return Canisius and I am really looking forward to working for coach Baron again,” Iuzzolino said. “Looking at this year’s roster, there are a lot of young guys and I’m looking forward to working with them as an assistant coach. I can’t wait to get back to Buffalo and join with the rest of the staff as we prepare for the upcoming season.”
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 the 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. He moved over to the men’s coaching ranks when he was named an assistant coach at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa. There, 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.
The Griffs return five letterwinners from last year’s team that went 21-13 overall and earned a second-straight berth in the CollegeInsiders.com Postseason Tournament. The school’s 41 total wins under Baron, who is entering his third-year as the team’s head coach, since 2012-13 rank as the second-most of any school in the MAAC.
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