Rodney Billups begins his third year with the University of Colorado men's basketball team and enters his first year as an assistant coach on Tad Boyle's staff.

During his two years as the director basketball operations and not associated with the coaching duties on and off the court, Billups was an integral part of the behind-of-the-scenes success of the Buffaloes program with travel, scheduling, and the day-to-day operations of the program. In the summer, he is director of the CU basketball summer camps.

During his two years in Boulder, Billups has helped the Buffaloes enjoy their finest seasons to date with back-to-back 24-win campaigns, an NCAA Tournament (third round), and a NIT semifinal appearance at Madison Square Garden. The 48 wins are the best two-year span in the history of CU basketball, in addition, an impressive 32-4 home record (.889) with nine sellouts at the Coors Events Center.

Billups is the younger brother of former CU great Chauncey Billups, who played with the Buffaloes from 1995-97. The younger Billups is a Colorado native graduating from George Washington High School in 2001. He later was a three-year standout with the University of Denver Pioneers from 2002-05.

"Rodney's a Colorado guy; loves Colorado basketball and that means a lot to me," CU men's basketball coach Tad Boyle said. "He's a tremendous mentor and role model to the players we have in our program, as well as the group of players that we are bringing into the program in the coming years. Rodney's a bright, young coach who has a tremendous future in this business."

At DU, Billups averaged 10.2 points, 6.4 assists, and 3.2 rebounds during his 2004-05 senior season. In addition to leading the Sun Belt Conference in assists, he also ranked 17th nationally. He was named an All-SBC third team selection in 2004-05, the same season he helped the Pioneers win 20 games and a National Invitational Tournament berth.

Billups' 199 assists in his senior season, ranks third all-time in school history, while his 58 steals, ranks seventh. Over his three years at DU, Billups ranks fourth all-time in assists (418) and steals (154). For his career, he averaged 8.5 points per game, in addition to 4.6 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game.

In 2004-05, Billups was named co-recipient of the Floyd M. Theard Jr. Memorial Award. The award is presented each year to the DU men's basketball player who best displays the qualities of leadership, scholarship and sportsmanship.

Billups earned his business management degree from DU in 2005. After his collegiate days, he played professional basketball for ASK Riga in Latvia (2005-06), where he led the league in steals and assists. He also played one year in Finland (2006-07).