Bio

Coach Rickard enters his 12th season as the head coach at SUNY Orange. Coach Rickard has an overall record of 229-94, has won 4 Mid-Hudson Conference Titles, and has collected two Region XV Coach of The Year awards. In addition, the Colts won the Region 21 championship in the 2010-2011, 2023-24 seasons and the East District championship in 2022-2023. The 2022-23 season the Colts went undefeated in conference play and finished 31-3 advancing to the NJCAA Division II Final Four. The 31 wins is a school record. 

Prior to becoming head coach at Orange he was an assistant coach for 7 years and the Associate Head Coach in 2005-2006. That year the Colts advanced to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament for the first time in school history. 

After a successful playing career at Minisink Valley High School, where he averaged over 27 points per game, he went on to attend SUNY Orange, where he scored 1,010 career points, good for 10th all-time in SUNY Orange history. After graduating from SUNY Orange, he attended Dominican University. At Dominican he was an All Conference selection in 1993-94 and 1994-1995 seasons. In addition he earned All-American honors during the 1995-96 season and was a second team all metropolitan selection. 

Tom started his coaching career in 1996 as a graduate assistant at the University at Buffalo. He was the Head Coach at Chapel Field High School in Pine Bush, NY. during the 2003-2004 season  

Coach Rickard has a Masters Degree from Iona College and Stony Brook University. He resides in Orange County with his wife Amy and their four children.