Troy staff update

Troy men’s basketball head coach Phil Cunningham announced the addition of three staff members on Thursday, completing the first-year head coach’s staff.

The Trojans have added assistant coach Billy Begley, director of operations Mike Worley and video coordinator Mike Moynihan.

“I am very excited about the latest additions to our coaching staff,” Cunningham said. “I’ve known each of these guys for an extended period of time, and I am completely familiar with their playing and coaching backgrounds.”

Begley comes to Troy after spending the last three seasons as an assistant coach at East Mississippi Community College. The Lions won

he National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) Region XXIII championship in each of Begley’s three seasons, posting a combined 63-11 record, including a 33-3 mark in conference play.

EMCC made three straight NJCAA National Tournament appearances, the only team nationally to do so over that span. During Begley’s three seasons the Lions produced five NJCAA All-America selections and had 10 players sign Division I scholarships.

Prior to his time at EMCC, Begley spent one season as an assistant coach at Nicholls State. Before that he spent one season as a graduate assistant at Mississippi State, following a four-year playing career with the Bulldogs, all while Cunningham was an assistant coach for MSU.

Begley was a three-time team captain for Mississippi State, a four-time Academic All-SEC selection and was also a member of the 2007-08 SEC Good Works Team.

“I recruited Billy out of Notre Dame Prep and watched him evolve from a team captain at Mississippi State into a successful college coach,” Cunningham said. “As a player and coach, he has been an integral part of teams that simply win year in and year out and compete at a championship level. He is a high-energy mover and shaker who loves to recruit, which is the kind of coach we want on our staff.”

Worley comes to Troy after spending the last three seasons as an assistant coach at Kilgore College in Kilgore, Texas. Last season, the Rangers went 27-5 and earned an at-large berth into the NJCAA National Tournament. Kilgore advanced to the tournament’s second round and finished the season ranked 15th in the NJCAA Top 25 Poll.

Prior to his time at Kilgore, Worley worked with USA Recruiting Edge, an online recruiting service. That followed professional stints in the Premier Basketball League (PBL) with the Arkansas Impact and the American Basketball Association (ABA) with the Arkansas Aeros.

Prior to his years as an assistant coach at the professional level, Worley spent time as an assistant coach at Arkansas-Fort Smith, winning the 2006 NJCAA National Championship with the Lions, who have since moved to NCAA Division II.

“Mike brings a high level of character and a diverse coaching background to the table,” Cunningham said. “He is extremely organized and completely understands the role of a coach in the academic, athletic, and spiritual development of our student-athletes. He was an outstanding player in high school and college, and he holds the unique honor of being named the NJCAA’s first ever Male Student Athlete of the Year at Coffeyville Community College before he played at Creighton.”

Moynihan comes to Troy after spending last season as an assistant coach at Division II Young Harris College in Young Harris, Ga. The Mountain Lions went 17-9 in 2012-13, their first season in the Peach Belt Conference and Moynihan’s only season with the team.

Moynihan has also spent one season as a graduate assistant at North Georgia College and one season as an assistant coach at Buford High School, leading BHS to a Georgia High School Association (GHSA) Class AA State Championship appearance.

Moynihan wrapped up a four-year playing career by earning All-Peach Belt honors at North Georgia in 2009-10. He averaged 14.4 points and 4.7 assists per game as a senior for the Saints. Moynihan spent the final two years of his playing career at North Georgia after spending the first two at Georgia State.

Moynihan is the grandson of legendary head coach Charles “Lefty” Driesell, whom Cunningham coached under for five seasons at James Madison and Georgia State.

“Michael is a young man who I first met back when I was an assistant coach on his grandfather’s (Driesell) staff,” Cunningham said. “He’s got basketball blood flowing through his body, and he is simply hungry to succeed in this business. He also just spent an invaluable year working for one of the most respected coaches in our profession in Pete Herrmann (was the head coach of David Robinson at the Naval Academy).”

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