Fresh off two straight appearances in the NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament, Mike Annese joined the University of Mary men's basketball team as an assistant coach prior to the 2018-19 season.
Annese, who spent three seasons (2015-18) as the assistant coach at Truman State University before joining the Marauders, first connected with UMary head coach Joe Kittell in 2009-10 when the Annese was a senior at NCAA Division I Colorado State University and Kittell was the video coordinator under UMary alumnus Tim Miles, then the CSU head coach and now head coach at the University of Nebraska.
“I’m very excited to reconnect with Mike and add him to our staff at the University of Mary,” said Kittell. “He played at the highest level under the same guy who helped me get my start in the business. For the last seven years he has gotten some great experience as an assistant coach, including three straight 20-win season and back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances at Truman State.”
“Mike Annese was a huge part of our success the last two years at Truman,” said Chris Foster, former head coach at Truman State and currently head coach at McKendree University. “He has a great presence on the court and did a great job helping develop our players, which resulted in having three First Team All-GLVC players last season. Mike is a tireless worker and a man of extremely high character. Coach Kittell and the University of Mary made a great hire with Mike.”
“Having had the pleasure to coach Mike Annese at Colorado State, I found to be a basketball junkie,” said Miles. “His love for the game always showed. Mike loves teaching and playing the game, and he relates well to a variety of people. I think he is a great get for Coach Kittell and the Marauders program.”
"I am very excited to be a part of the basketball program at the University of Mary and am definitely looking forward to working with Coach Kittell,” said Annese. “We have known each other all the way back to my playing days at CSU when he was the Video Coordinator. Joe has great knowledge of the game and relates extremely well with the players. There is a lot to be excited about for the future of Marauder basketball. I am honored to be a part of the University of Mary family and can’t wait to start working with our players to help them grow on and off the court."
As an assistant coach at Truman State for three seasons (2015-18), Annese helped guide the Bulldogs to three straight 20-win seasons and consecutive trips to the NCAA Division II national tournament. In 2017-18 Truman State won 20 games for a fifth straight season and was 20-11 overall, tied the school record with 13 conference wins, reached the Great Lake Valley Conference championship game for the first time and had three all-conference selections for the first time in 62 years.
Annese helped guide the Bulldogs to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 11 seasons in 2016-17 as the squad set several school records, including points, points per game, three-point shooting percentage, field goal shooting percentage, three-pointers per game and free throw percentage and finished 22-10.
In his first season at Truman State in 2015-16 the Bulldogs were 21-9.
Annese began his collegiate coaching as an assistant coach at Iowa Lakes Community College from 2011-13. He made his first stop at Truman State as the assistant coach for Matt Woodley in 2013-14 before spending a season in the Northern Sun at the University of Minnesota Crookston in 2014-15.
Prior to his two seasons as a graduate assistant at Iowa Lakes CC, he played collegiately at Colorado State University for three seasons for Miles. In his three seasons as a Ram, Annese appeared in a total of 26 games, 20 of which came during his redshirt-senior season in 2009-10. Prior to transferring to Colorado State, he played for two seasons at Western State College of Colorado in Gunnison, CO, and was the starting point guard for the Mountaineers during the 2005-06 campaign.
A native of Littleton, CO, Annese received his Master’s degree in higher education from Iowa State University in 2011 after earning his Bachelor’s degree in sociology in 2010 from CSU.
