Joe Riccio joined the Texas A&M track & field staff in July 2026 as an assistant coach overseeing the throws program. Riccio arrived in Aggieland after one season on head coach Leroy Burrell's staff at Auburn.
In his lone season on the Plains, he coached nine NCAA qualifiers, four All-Americans and one SEC champion.
Riccio made an immediate impact in the development of Megan Hague, who won the SEC Indoor shot put title, placed fourth in the shot put at the NCAA Indoor Championships and earned first-team All-America honors in the shot put at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. In one season under Riccio's guidance, Hague set the Auburn indoor and outdoor shot put records, claimed nine of the school's all-time top-10 indoor marks and eight of the school's all-time top-10 outdoor marks, and improved her personal best by 3 feet.
At the SEC Outdoor Championships, Riccio's throwers scored 28 points, including the women's squad totaling 21 points, which accounted for 70.6% of the team's total.
Prior to Auburn, Riccio spent six seasons directing the throws program at Fresno State. During his tenure with the Bulldogs, he coached NCAA champion and three-time All-American Cierra Jackson in the shot put and discus while developing multiple NCAA finalists, including Jordyn Bryant, Amelia DiPaola, Harriette Mortlock and Vanja Spaic. His athletes combined to qualify for the NCAA West Regional 24 times, with six advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Under Riccio's guidance, Fresno State throwers rewrote the program record book, claiming four of the program's six throwing event records while recording 20 all-time top-10 marks.
Before Fresno State, Riccio spent five seasons as the throws coach at Grand Canyon, where he coached Olympian and World Championships competitor Tarasue Barnett in the discus. His student-athletes won 15 individual conference titles and made numerous NCAA West Preliminary Round appearances while helping the Lopes capture their first Division I WAC indoor and outdoor championships.
Riccio began his collegiate coaching career as the assistant throws coach at Mesa Community College during the 2013-14 season, where he guided multiple athletes to national championship competition, including two All-Americans.
As a student-athlete, Riccio was an NJCAA national champion in the hammer throw at Mesa Community College and earned multiple All-America honors in the shot put and weight throw. He later competed at Wyoming, where he scored in three events at the Mountain West Championships, before finishing his collegiate career at Arizona State as a Pac-12 scorer and NCAA regional qualifier in the hammer throw.
A native of Scottsdale, Arizona, Riccio earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Arizona State University in 2013.