Northern Arizona head men’s basketball coach Shane Burcar announced the promotion of Jake Ricciardi to assistant coach. Ricciardi recently wrapped up his first season on Burcar’s staff as the team’s Director of Basketball Operations.
“Jake took a risk; he came across from South Alabama with no title and hoped for the best and he worked really hard as our DOBO,” Burcar said. “As we grow our program, we’re trying to grow from within. Jake is a young coach who goes for it and he believes in our program. I couldn’t be happier for him.”
Ricciardi joined the Lumberjack men’s basketball staff last August following two seasons at South Alabama. During a season in which COVID-19 threw multiple wrinkles throughout the 2020-21 season, Ricciardi oversaw NAU’s day-to-day operations including travel, budget and administrative recruiting work in his previous role.
“First off, I want to thank Coach Burcar, Mike Marlow and Uri Farkas for believing in me in this promotion to an assistant coach role,” Ricciardi said. “Their belief in me means everything and I’m looking forward to being on the court to coach the guys we have in this program.”
A native of Waukesha, Wis., Ricciardi spent the 2019-20 season – his second with South Alabama – as the Jaguars’ Director of Player Development in which the team tied for second in the Sun Belt with a 13-7 conference record. Initially hired as a video coordinator in 2018, the Jaguars won a combined 37 games in Ricciardi’s two seasons at South Alabama.
Ricciardi began his coaching career at Carroll University, a Division III school in his home state of Wisconsin, as an assistant coach from 2016-18.
A career-ending injury cut short his playing career after two years as a student-athlete at Concordia Wisconsin. Following his injury, Ricciardi served two years as a student assistant from 2014-16 under Josh Pastner at Memphis, where he would graduate with his bachelor’s degree in communications in 2016.
“There were a lot of good candidates, so you take into consideration if you go with experience or loyalty,” Burcar said. “At the end of the day, it was Jake’s job and he’ll be more of an asset to our program as an assistant coach.”
Ricciardi promoted to Assistant Coach at NAU
