Canisius College head men's basketball coach Tom Parrotta announced today that Gabe Michael has joined the staff as the team's director of basketball operations. In this role, Michael will be responsible for the program's film exchange program, opponent scouting, team travel coordination, overseeing the team's undergraduate managerial group, on-campus recruiting and the Canisius College Boys Basketball Camp.

A Buffalo native, Michael joins Parrotta's staff after spending the previous five years as an assistant coach at Medaille College where he helped lead the Mavericks to back-to-back Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championships and two-straight berths into the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament. Michael joined the Mavericks' staff after a one-year stay at Hiram College in 2006. Prior to his time on the Hiram coaching staff, he was the head freshmen team and varsity assistant coach at Canisius High School, where he guided the school's freshmen team to a 19-0 record while the varsity team won the 2005 Manhattan Cup championship.

"I am extremely happy to have Gabe join our staff," Parrotta said. "He is a basketball lifer and someone that will compliment our staff very well. He has coached, understands the game and most importantly, he is a great character guy who has followed the program very closely over the years. He will do whatever he can to help the program be successful."

Michael graduated from Xavier University in 2004 with his degree in entrepreneurship. While at Xavier, he volunteered as a student-manager with the men's basketball while the Musketeers won the Atlantic 10 championship and advanced to the school's first Elite 8 appearance under then-head coach Thad Matta.

The Griffs return four starters and eight letterwinners for the 2010-11 season. Canisius went 15-17 overall and 8-10 in MAAC play last year, with the 15 wins standing as the most for the Blue and Gold since 2000-01.