Arcadia University Athletics

Jim Ricci enters his second season with the women's basketball program in 2024-25 as an assistant coach.

In his first season, Ricci helped lead the Knights to the most wins in program history and the first-ever appearance in a conference championship game.

Ricci joins the Knights after spending the 2022-23 season at the University of Pennsylvania as an assistant where he helped lead the Quakers to a 17-12 record, an Ivy League tournament appearance, and a bid to the WNIT. While at Penn, Ricci primarily assisted with player development and game preparation.

Prior to his time at Penn, Ricci spent seven highly successful seasons with current Arcadia head coach Jackie Hartzell at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Pa. The Devils compiled a 168-48 record across his time there, qualifying for the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) tournament every year, while winning five South Division titles and three CACC tournaments (2017,18, and 22).
 
The Devils qualified for five straight NCAA tournaments from 2017-22, and were one of five Division II teams to win a game in four of those tournaments. The team won its first-ever NCAA tournament game in 2016-17 before winning two in 2017-18 to advance to its first-ever Sweet 16 and East Region final.
 
In 2017-18, USciences set program records for wins (30), regular-season victories (25), win streak (18), CACC victories for a 19-game schedule (17), national ranking (No. 11), and regional ranking (No. 2). The Devils then tied or bested all those records in 2018-19, winning 30 games with 26 regular-season victories, 18 of which came in CACC play.
 
The Devils also finished top-10 in Division II in three-pointers every season from 2016-20 and led the country in points allowed per game in both the 2016-17 and 2021-22 seasons.
 
Prior to coaching at USciences, Ricci spent nine years with the Archbishop Wood girls' basketball program where he won three consecutive Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) 3A state titles from 2010-12. 
 
In seven seasons as head coach he accumulated a record of 152-48 and was voted Coach of the Year by the Associated Press writers of Pennsylvania in 2010 and 2012. His teams won the Philadelphia Catholic League (PCL) title, as well as the PIAA District XII title, in 2011, and were in the PCL Championship game in six of his seven years in charge. 
 
Throughout his seven years, Ricci’s teams produced eight All-State selections, as well as 24 All-Catholic honorees. Twenty-one of his graduates would go on to play at the college level. 
 
Prior to coaching at Archbishop Wood, Ricci spent 24 years coaching boys at St. Matthew in Northeast Philadelphia. While there his teams accumulated an unprecedented 552-122 record, winning five Philadelphia Archdiocesan City Titles, a Middle Atlantic States Championships and six Philadelphia Region 1 League championships. His teams also made four Pennsylvania State Final Four appearances. 

A Philadelphia native, Ricci graduated from Father Judge High School before going on to earn his bachelor’s degree from La Salle University.