Michael Ricci, a highly successful high school girls basketball coach in New Jersey, won’t return next year to the program he has guided for the past 16 seasons.
One of the most successful coaches in New Jersey, Ricci will not be retained next season as the head coach for the girls basketball team in Haddon Heights. At the center of the issue are allegations and claims that Ricci is “irresponsible.”
According to the Cherry Hill Courier Post, last October, Ricci’s teenage daughter had a gathering of friends at her home. Following the party, there were allegations that the underage attendees had consumed alcohol.
The allegations came to the attention of Haddon Heights’ board of education via three anonymous letters.
From the reporting in the Courier Post, quoting Ricci:
“They said based on my parental decisions, I was irresponsible. They said I should have gone downstairs and checked on the kids. They must have used the word ‘irresponsible’ 10 times.”
Ricci is not a full-time employee of the Haddon Heights school district. He holds a corporate job in addition to his role as the varsity head coach.