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Ricardo Rush 24-25

Ricardo Rush, Jr.

Alma Mater: University of Maryland
Hired Date: June 2023

Ricardo Rush, Jr., enters his third season as an assistant coach at Chattanooga ahead of the 2025-26 season after previously serving in the same capacity at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) for the previous two seasons from 2021-23. He arrives in the Scenic City carrying a vast amount of coaching experience through various levels of the basketball ranks.

Rush helped lead Chattanooga to a historic 2024-25 season in which the program finished 29-9 overall, captured its first-ever National Invitation Tournament (NIT) title and earned its 13th SoCon regular season title behind a 15-3 mark in league play. UTC matched a program record for most wins (29) in a single season while totaling its second-most league wins (15) in the process. 

Before his tenure at NJIT, Rush, Jr., spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Salt Lake Community College (JUCO) which covered the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season and the 2020-21 campaign. In his two seaons on the bench at SLCC, the Bruins went a combined 49-9 over the stretch which featured a pair of NJCAA National Tournament appearances. The Bruins entered the 2019-20 NJCAA Tournament on a 15-game win streak and carried a 29-4 (12-0 SWAC) overall record into the event before COVID shutdown competitions across the country. SLCC went 20-5 (12-3 SWAC) during the 2020-21 slate and ranked 10th among all NJCAA programs in scoring behind a 90.2 points per game average. 

Prior to his SLCC tenure, he led on-court coaching, logistics, recruiting and player evaluations for the DC Blue Devils, a grassroots AAU program located in the Washington, D.C., area. Rush, Jr., has helped develop over 40 NCAA Division I student-athletes through the DC Blue Devils organization which competed on the Under Armour Circuit. He helped the development of the 2017 NBA Draft's first overall pick, Markelle Fultz.
 
Rush, Jr., served for four years as a student-manager at the University of Maryland under National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame coach Gary Williams and former coach Mark Turgeon. After graduation, Rush, Jr., joined the Basketball Operations department for the Orlando Magic for two seasons, during that time he assisted with the NBA draft process and managed the SportVu data tracking system where he reviewed and analyzed player statistics and real time player and ball positioning.  

Rush, Jr., is a native of Mitchellville, Maryland and graduated from The University of Maryland, College Park with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology. 

Updated July 2025Â