Canisius College men's basketball coach Tom Parrotta announced today that Rob Norris has been named the program's associate head coach. Norris is entering his fourth season on Parrotta's staff.

“Rob has been very instrumental in establishing the foundation that we have laid here at Canisius,” Parrotta said. “He has stayed the course and is committed to taking this program to new heights. There is no doubt that he will be a very fine head coach one day in the future.”

Prior to his arrival at Canisius, Norris spent two years at Towson University where he worked under head coach Pat Kennedy. Norris spent a total of five seasons working with Kennedy, starting out as the film coordinator at DePaul when Kennedy was the head coach there before traveling to Montana, where he was the director of basketball operations for Kennedy's staff in Missoula, Mont.

A native of Rochester, N.Y., Norris is a 1999 graduate of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He attended Fairleigh Dickinson University for two years before transferring to IUP for his junior and senior years. A four-year starter at guard, Norris earned a spot on the Northeast Conference's 1995-96 All-Newcomers Team after averaging 11.0 points per game for FDU as a freshman.

In his senior year, he was named captain at IUP and helped direct the Indians to a 22-5 record, the third-best in school history. He closed out his collegiate career with more than 1,000 points, 300 assists and 300 rebounds.

Norris is a graduate of Rochester's McQuaid Jesuit High School where he was a four-year varsity player and a McDonald's All-American nominee. A two-time all-state and all-city catholic selection and a first-team All-Greater Rochester choice in his senior year, he led McQuaid to a pair of Section V championships.

The Griffs showed a six-game improvement in 2008-09 and finished the season with an 11-20 overall record and a 4-14 mark in MAAC action. Canisius, which won four of its last six games, returns all five starters for the 2009-10 campaign.