INDIANAPOLIS – After hiring Kristin Drabyn in May to fill one of the two vacancies on his coaching staff, IUPUI head women’s basketball coach Austin Parkinson announced today the final piece of his coaching staff for the 2013-14 campaign with the hiring of Lee Larkins.

Larkins joins the IUPUI women’s basketball staff after spending last season as an assistant at IPFW.

“We are very excited to welcome Coach Larkins to our IUPUI Basketball family. Lee will bring a tremendous amount of passion and energy to our program,” Parkinson said. “With his Midwest ties and his familiarity with The Summit League, this is an excellent fit for our coaching staff.  ”

“I really feel this is a blessing to be on this staff and to work for a head coach like Coach Parkinson,” Larkins said. “For him to turn a program around in just three years and earn 20 wins last year, it shows that there is something special going on here with this great group of ladies.”

While at IPFW last season, Larkins helped the Mastodons finish fourth in the Summit League standings after being picked eighth in the Summit League Preseason Poll. In his lone season in Fort Wayne, Larkins worked with Summit League Player of the Year Amanda Hyde, who averaged 18.6 points per game.

Prior to his time at IPFW, Larkins helped develop the skills of players at the club level by coaching for Indiana Elite Central from 2006-08, before returning to the club again in 2012. Larkins also founded the Indiana Explosion Basketball Club in 2009.

A 1978 graduate from Purdue University, Larkins was a three-year letterwinner on the gridiron for the Boilermarkers before pursuing his Master’s Degree in Guidance and Counseling from New Mexico Highlands University in 1985.

In addition to his time in college and at the AAU level, Larkins has also spent time as a coach at the youth, middle school and high school levels.