Track & Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach (Throws)
- Email:
- jriccio@mail.fresnostate.edu
- Phone:
- 559-278-2303
 THE RICCIO FILE
Hometown: Scottsdale, Ariz.
COACHING HISTORY
Fresno State
2019-present: Assistant Coach
Grand Canyon
2014-19: Assistant Coach
Mesa CC
2013-14: Assistant Coach
2004-09: Head Cross Country Coach
THROWING EXPERIENCE
Arizona State
2012-13
Wyoming
2011
Mesa CC
2009-10
EDUCATION
Arizona State (2013)
Bachelor's in Psychology
Last Updated: June 17, 2024
Joe Riccio enters his sixth season as the Fresno State throws coach.
In five seasons, Ricco has qualified 24 athletes for the NCAA West regional, with six advancements to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. His athletes have rewritten Fresno State's throwing records, holding four of the six records (hammer, javelin, indoor/outdoor shot put). They hold 20 spots on the Top 10 lists.
Riccio's first year at Fresno State was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic which canceled all athletic competition in mid-March. During his first full year he helped guide Vanja Spaic to a fourth-place finish in the javelin at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships with program record mark of 55.06m/180-8. It was the highest finish ever in the event at nationals in Fresno State women's program history, and tied for the second-highest finish by any female athlete at Fresno State at outdoor nationals.
Spaic was the first of four straight years that Riccio had sent an athlete to the NCAA Championships, with a high of three in 2024. Jordyn Bryant was the was the first of his Bulldog athletes to earn a trip to nationals in back-to-back years, going in 2023 and 2024. She became the Bulldog in the 21st century to go in multiple events events when she qualified for the discus and shot put in 2024.
At the conference level, Spaic and Rhiannon Genilla won the javelin in back-to-back years in 2021 and 2022 while the hammer throwers owned a three-year run behind Hannah Chappell (2021), Nadia Maffo (2022) and Jocelynn Budwig (2023).Â
In 2022, the Bulldogs earned 25 points in the hammer, going 1-3-4-5. It was the most points ever scored in the women's hammer at the championship meet, passing the 24 by Colorado State in 2002 and UNLV in 2011. In 2024, Cierra Jackson became the first Bulldog in MW history to medal in three individual events (discus - silver, hammer - silver, shot put - bronze) at a single conference championship. She became the fifth female athlete in to accomplish the feat, and first since 2015.
Prior to joining the Bulldogs, Riccio spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Grand Canyon where his athletes earned 15 Western Athletic Conference individual championships. Under his guidance, he had numerous athletes qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Round after contributing significant points to the team during conference championships.
In his final season at GCU, Riccio saw most improvement with his 2019 freshman class with a handful of program firsts. Then-freshman Jorden Okyere became the first male thrower from GCU to win an indoor WAC throwing title when he threw the weight 16.68 meters, a personal record at the time. Okyere also broke the school record in the discus at the Desert Heat Classic, one of two school records on the year from a freshman thrower. Riccio also coached then-freshman Moataz Hassan to school record throws in the shot put in three consecutive meets. Riccio also coached 2018 All-American javelin thrower Jesse Newman to another school record in the event and a top-10 ranking in the country at the time of the throw.
In 2018, Riccio coached then-sophomore javelin thrower Jesse Newman to an NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships appearance and Tarasue Barnett to a Western Athletic Conference meet record in the discus. At the two WAC Championships in 2018, GCU throwers won five individual titles.
Since joining GCU, Riccio has assisted multiple student-athletes to individual WAC Championship titles, including three-time champion, Tarasue Barnett. In 2016, he assisted the men’s and women’s programs to their first Division I WAC Indoor and Outdoor Championships.
Riccio led Jamaican-native, Barnett, to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games as she qualified for the women’s discus throw. The junior sophomore finished 16th in the world at the games with the best mark among all NCAA competitors.
Prior to joining the Lopes, Riccio was assistant throws coach at Mesa Community College for a year. He helped several athletes qualify for nationals, including two  who brought home All-America honors (one one men's side, one on women's side).Â
Following his JUCO days, Riccio competed at Wyoming for a year and earned a Mountain West Athlete of the Week award and was a point scorer in three events (shot put, weight throw and hammer), including placing fourth during outdoor season in the hammer. He then transferred to Arizona State where he scored at the Pac-12 Championship and was a regional qualifier in the hammer.Â
As a student-athlete, Riccio began his college career at Mesa CC where he was a national champion an earned multiple national honors. He picked up the championship in the hammer throw as a sophomore and was an All-American in the shot put and weight throw while also competing in the javelin.Â
Riccio's high school career included an Arizona state championship in the shot put and discus.Â
