During his tenure as head coach, Samford won 20 games for the first time in school history (1984).
The Cocodrilos were selected to compete in the South American Cup (1993) The owners of the British Basketball League Manchester Giants were putting together a new look team and brought in United States college coach Mike Hanks for the start of the '94–95 season.
Although they only finished fourth and fifth in Coach Hanks' two seasons, the Giants were play-off runners-up, losing the Wembley Championship Final to Worthing by a narrow 77–73 (1995).
The Giants were selected for the European Cup in both 1995 and advancing to the second round (1996) Hanks distinguished himself as the school's most successful basketball coach, setting school records for the most wins in a season, highest conference finish and most wins to start a season.
[5] On temporary assignment from Samford, Hanks served as an assistant coach to then Texas coach, Bob Weltlich for the US national team in the 1982 FIBA World Championship, winning the silver medal in Cali, Colombia.
[6] In 1983 Hanks coached the USA Select Basketball Team to a 12–0 record in Asia.