Jim Boylen’s career in basketball coaching has rocketed – all the way to Houston.

The former University of Maine point guard was named a fulltime assistant with the NBA Houston Rockets Saturday. Boylen confirmed Monday evening he has signed a two-year contract with a third-year option as an assistant to newly named Houston head coach Rudy Tomjanovich.

“I’m still in shock,” said Boylen, who spent the previous five seasons after graduating from Maine as an assistant at Michigan State University. “It’s what I’ve wanted. I just thank God I had the chance to interview.”

Boylen, 27, said his duties with the Rockets will center on his operating a video-assisted computer analysis of both Houston’s players and the players of opposing teams.

“We had the same system at Michigan State and I’m very good at it,” said Boylen, who played at Maine from 1983-87. “They (Houston) just bought a brand new system. They wanted a guy to run it who understood basketball and also knew computers.”

Boylen credited his landing the job to input provided Houston assistant and former Old Town coach John Killilea by former Maine men’s basketball coach Skip Chappelle.

“The biggest key to this thing was Skip. He’s helped me before on some jobs. He and I have stayed close since I graduated. Skip is so well known and respected by people in the NBA. I owe a lot if this to him,” Boylen said.

Boylen, who has also coached in the NBA summer league in Los Angeles, said his long-range goal is to become an NBA head coach.

“That’s what I’m aiming for down the road. I just hope I can work hard enough to prove I can do it. I’ve got my head in the door, now,” Boylen said.