WARWICK – A New York native and Glocester resident who has coached at several universities has been named the new head coach for men’s basketball at the Community College of Rhode Island.
Michael Romano joined CCRI’s athletics department as compliance officer in 2021. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from Western Connecticut State University and a master’s in education from Marist College, where he served as graduate manager for the school’s Division I basketball program.
He took on his first collegiate coaching role in 2012, with a job as an assistant at Rhode Island College. He was associate head coach at Bard College during the 2015–16 season and spent the 2016–17 season as the assistant coach at Hartwick College. From 2017 through 2020, he was the associate head coach at Alfred University.
Romano served as the varsity head coach and assistant prep team coach at the Connecticut boarding school Putnam Science Academy in 2020-21, where he also worked as a teacher and resident advisor.
CCRI Director of Athletics, Recreation and Wellness Ashley Casiano announced the hire, noting Romano is the college’s fifth head men’s basketball coach.
