Following up on a story that HoopDirt.com first mentioned back on April 3rd (Daily Dirt – 4/3/18)…
Mike Allen has joined the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball staff as an assistant coach, head coach A.W. Hamilton announced on Tuesday.
The former Ohio University standout and professional basketball player comes to EKU following three seasons on staff at Bryant University.
“I always knew when I got another head coaching job that I would hire Mike,” Hamilton said. “His work ethic, basketball IQ and ability to communicate with student-athletes made hiring him an easy decision. Mike will make an immediate impact on our current players and prospects we recruit to Eastern Kentucky University.”
Allen was an assistant coach at Bryant last season and was instrumental in the school’s recruiting efforts. During the 2017-18 campaign, Allen coached Bryant’s backcourt, which included two of the league’s top players in Adam Grant (15.6 points-per-game) and Ikenna Ndguba (13.8 points-per-game). Grant was named third team All-Northeast Conference following the season.
Allen’s duties as an assistant coach included all aspects of recruiting, player development, advanced opponent scouting and community relations.
“I’m more than excited about joining the basketball family at EKU,” Allen said. “This is a huge opportunity to assist Coach Hamilton and implement his philosophy while leading EKU back to the top of the OVC. Coach Hamilton is a terrific person and coach, and I’m honored to be a part of his staff.”
Prior to being elevated to an assistant coach for the Bulldogs, Allen served as the director of basketball operations from 2015 to 2017. His primary responsibilities included organizing team travel, film coordination, summer camps and other program functions.
Allen spent two seasons (2013 to 2015) as an assistant post-graduate basketball coach at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia, where he assisted in recruiting and fundraising processes in addition to his responsibilities on the court. During Allen’s tenure at Hargrave, the post-graduate team achieved top-5 national rankings while going 70-12.
Prior to his time at Hargrave, Allen spent two years as a graduate assistant coach at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania, a position he took following a 2009-10 season spent playing overseas with the Chemnitz 99ers in Chemnitz, Germany.
Before entering the coaching ranks, Allen spent two seasons as the starting point guard at Ohio University, earning All-MAC Honorable Mention accolades as a senior in 2008-09. Allen started all but three games in his two-year Bobcat career, graduating with 280 assists, good for the fifth-best two-season total in program history. As a senior, he became just the third Ohio U. player to lead the MAC in assists per game (4.31), also leading the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.26).
Before arriving in Athens, Allen spent his sophomore season at Cloud County (Kansas) Community College, where he led his team to a 23-10 record and a pair of victories in the 2006-07 NJCAA District VI (Div. I) Tournament. As a rookie in 2005-06, he helped his Daytona Beach (Fla.) Community College squad to a 25-5 record, ranking 10th in the NJCAA Region VIII (Div. I) in assists per game (4.3).
Allen graduated from Ohio University in 2009 with a B.S. in Heath Services Administration. He earned his M.S. in Organizational Leadership from Mercyhurst in 2014.
