Former Troy University assistant named men’s basketball coach at Truman State

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Truman State University has hired Mike Worley as its new men’s basketball coach.

Worley has spent the past 12 seasons as an assistant at Troy (Ala.) University. Troy twice won the Sun Belt Conference tournament to qualify for the NCAA Division I tournament during his stay there, losing first-round games to Duke in 2017 and to Kentucky this past season.

He replaces former University of Iowa guard Jeff Horner, who guided the Bulldogs to a 121-78 record in seven seasons. Horner and the university agreed to part ways in early April after a season that saw Truman State post a 17-12 record, losing in the first round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament.

The Bulldogs won two regular-season GLVC titles and advanced to the Division II national tournament three times under Horner, reaching the Elite Eight in 2021. He was named GLVC Coach of the Year in 2021 and 2024.

Worley scored 2,369 points, the fourth-highest in Colorado state history, at Swink High School in La Junta, Colo. The team won the Colorado 2A state title in 1990, and Worley was twice named 2A Player of the Year by the Denver Post.

He played for Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College, Creighton and the University of Denver during his collegiate career. He was named the National Junior College Athletic Association Male Athlete of the Year in 1993. He graduated from Denver in 1995.

Worley was director of athletics at Coffeyville from 2002-05. He spent one season as an assistant coach at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, one season as an assistant with the Arkansas Aeros of the American Basketball Association and one season as an assistant with the Arkansas Impact of the Premier Basketball League.

He then was at Kilgore (Texas) Community College, where he assisted in scouting, recruiting and on-the-floor coaching, before joining the Troy staff for the 2013-14 season. Troy won 20 or more games five times during his tenure there.

Horner last week was named head coach at Division III Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa.