Following up on something that HoopDirt.com first reported back on April 25th (D2 DIRT). The hiring of Michael Connors at USciences (PA) has now been made official. The school has released the following statement:
Michael Connors, who possesses over 30 years of coaching experience at the Division I level, has been hired as the new head men’s basketball coach at University of the Sciences.
“I am excited and honored to be named the head men’s basketball coach at University of the Sciences,” said Connors. “I would like to thank Dr. Marc Caserio and the entire search committee for giving me this opportunity.”
“University of the Sciences is an outstanding institution, and I look forward to having our student-athletes represent us well in the classroom, on the court and in the community.”
Connors most notably spent 15 years at Drexel under Head Coach Bruiser Flint from 2001-16, first as an assistant coach before being promoted to associate head coach in August of 2008.
He was recognized as one of the top-40 mid-major assistant coaches by hoopscooponline.com in both 2014 and 2015.
Drexel qualified for five National Invitational Tournaments during his time there, reaching the quarterfinals in 2012 after being announced as one of the final four teams left out of the NCAA Tournament.
That capped off a historic season for the Dragons, who won a school-record 29 games – including 19 in a row – en route to capturing the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) regular season championship and advancing to the CAA Tournament championship game for the second time during Flint’s tenure (2003).
“First off, I want to thank the hiring committee composed of Zach Durham, Cindy Rabideau, Jackie Hartzell, Jim Ricci, Joe Canaday, and Amy Kimchuk,” said Dr. Caserio, Ed.D., USciences Athletic Director. “I am extremely excited to have someone with Coach Connors’ experience and exposure taking over the men’s basketball program.”
“I strongly believe that Coach Connors has what it takes to build and implement a winning culture both on and off the court, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with him as his passion and energy for academics and the game of basketball is inspiring,” Dr. Caserio continued. “Mike is going to fit in perfectly with our Devils family.”
Connors comes to USciences after spending the last year as the director of training & basketball development at the United States Basketball Academy in Oregon.
While there he oversaw American and Chinese coaches, imparting the organization’s basketball curriculum by developing, implementing, monitoring and executing scalable basketball training programs for a proper skill development path. In addition to coordinating these programs with the Chinese coaching staff, he also provided on-court skill development to U16 players.
Connors joined Flint in making the move to Drexel from the University of Massachusetts after spending eight years (1993-2001) on the Minutemen staff, the first three of which came under current Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari.
Prior to joining the UMass staff he served as the interim head coach at Army, where he was also a senior assistant coach for three years (1990-93).
He first started at the collegiate level at Cornell (1984-86), before moving on to Colorado for four years (1986-90).
Connors began his coaching career in 1983 as the head coach for the professional Ryd Basketball Team in Sweden, leading that squad to its highest winning percentage in the team’s history shortly after graduating from Ithaca College.
He received his Bachelor of Science in Recreation Management, with a Minor in Business, from Ithaca in 1983 and was a four-year varsity performer on teams that advanced to back-to-back NCAA Division III Tournaments in 1982 and 1983.
Connors and his wife Lisa currently reside in Yardley, Pa. and they have three children, Lindsay, Daniel and Johnny.
