Truman State Director of Athletics, Signe Coombs, has announced the hiring of Mike Worley as the 14th Head Coach of the Bulldog Men’s Basketball program. Worley joins Truman State after 12 seasons as Men’s Assistant Coach at NCAA Division I Troy (Ala.) University.
Worley is a 1995 graduate of the University of Denver finishing his career with more than 1,100 points after playing at Denver, Creighton (Neb.), and Coffeyville Community College where he was named the inaugural National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) David Rowlands Award as Male Athlete of the Year in 1993. He averaged more than 19 points per game in his first collegiate stop earning All-America, all conference, and team captain accolades. Worley graduated from Denver with a B.A. in Communication in 1995 with a Master of Science in Management/Sports Management from Denver in 1997.
Worley served from 2002-2005 as the director of athletics at his alma mater Coffeyville Community College. The Red Ravens enjoyed broad success in fundraising, football and men’s basketball during his tenure as one of the youngest athletics directors in the country.
Entering the coaching ranks in 2005, Worley assisted the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith to the NJCAA National Championship in 2006 after a 33-3 campaign. He spent the 2006-07 season as assistant coach with the Arkansas Aeros of the American Basketball Association (ABA) followed by the 2007-08 season with the Arkansas Impact of the Premier Basketball League (PBL). The Impact finished the season as Western Division Champions with a 14-10 mark and advancing to the league title game.
Kilgore Community College was the next stop for Worley where he assisted in scouting, recruiting, and on-the-floor coaching in addition to academic planning, travel planning, and fundraising. The program saw improvements each season culminating in a 14-team Region XIV regular season title in his final year with the program in 2012-2013.
Since joining the Troy Trojans for the 2013-14 season, Worley assisted a program winning 20 games or more in five seasons including the previous four dating back to 20-11, 10-6 Sun Belt Conference (SBC) marks in 2021-22.
Worley was on the bench for two of the three times Troy earned a berth in March Madness. The 2024-25 squad finished the season 23-11 overall, 13-5 SBC, winning the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Championship after a 94-81 win over Arkansas State in the March 10th title game. The Trojans earned a No. 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament falling to No. 3 Kentucky in a 76-57 opening round loss. In 2017, Troy defeated Texas State, 59-53, in the Sun Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Championship and earned a first-round date against the Duke Blue Devils in the East Regional game falling 87-65.
Worley tallied 2,369 points – currently the fourth-highest point total in Colorado state history – at Swink High School in La Junta, Colo. The team won the Colorado 2A state title in 1990 during a career where Worley was named all-conference four times, three times all state, and two-time 2A Player of the Year as named by the Denver Post. Worley and his wife, Sarah, have four children: Raeghan, Rachel, Drew, and Nora Rose.
Coach Worley will be introduced to the Truman State community at a press conference later this month.
