HOUSTON - Rice University basketball coach Ben Braun has announced the hiring of Marco Morcos, who joins the staff as director of basketball operations.

"Marco has a solid background in both coaching as well as athletic administration," Braun said. "We are pleased to have him join the Rice family."

Morcos served as the director of basketball operations at UAB this past season. He was part of a Blazer team which posted a 23-11 record and advanced to the second round of the National Invitational Tournament.

Prior to making the move to collegiate basketball, Morcos was a successful high school and AAU coach.

He was the head coach at LEAP Academy University Charter School in Camden, N.J., for three years (2004-07). LEAP compiled a 102-20 record during Morcos' three seasons. Beyond wins and losses, Morcos' teams had a 100 percent graduation rate from the college preparatory school and maintained better than a 3.0 team grade point average.

In just his second year, Morcos' team was 27-6 and earned the No. 1 seed to the NJSIAA South Jersey playoffs. LEAP would capture the South Jersey Sectional as well as win the Central Jersey championship. The team went on to finish as runners-up at the New Jersey state championship in 2006. Morcos' successful second year marked the fastest a coach had led a team to a state championship in New Jersey Scholastic history (two years).

Morcos' 2007 team posted a 25-7 record and was ranked No. 7 in South Jersey in the final regional rankings by the Courier-Post.

Additionally, Morcos was the head coach at Rise Academy where he led the team to a 31-8 record.

Morcos has also run a nationally-competitive AAU program and has been responsible for developing over 100 Division I and Division II players during his coaching career. He also coached at the Rise Basketball Northeast Regional All-Star Game Morcos is also an assistant coach for the Egyptian National Team which has an opportunity to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. The team finished as runners-up at the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations.

His coaching experience also includes working as a counselor at the prestigious Reebok All-American Camp (RAAC).

Morcos saw action in 33 games during a two-year playing career for Rutgers-Camden. He also played for the Egyptian National Team in both 2000 and 2004.

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