Position: Head Coach
Experience: 5th Season
Alma Mater: Montclair State '93
Kim Barnes Arico begins her fifth year at the helm of the St.
John’s University women’s basketball program. In what has become
one of the remarkable turnarounds in the BIG EAST and the nation,
she has catapulted the Red Storm onto the national scene and last
year led the team to one of the most successful seasons in school
history.
In 2005-06, the Red Storm finished with a 22-8 overall record, a
national ranking and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament second
round, and Barnes Arico garnered BIG EAST and Metropolitan
Basketball Writer’s Association Coach of the Year Honors.
After taking over a program that finished 3-24 overall (0-16 in
the BIG EAST) the year before she arrived, Barnes Arico has
orchestrated the resurgence of St. John’s women’s basketball and
restored respect for a program that has historically been rich in
tradition.
Four seasons later, her accomplishments speak for themselves:
Two consecutive 20-win seasons, an NCAA Tournament berth and
victory, one WNIT appearance, three trips to the BIG EAST
Tournament and an infusion of energy into the program that both the
university and athletics community has felt.
Barnes Arico’s expertise and passion have paid dividends in her
short time at St. John’s, and the benefits have been long-reaching.
In 2005, the university opened Taffner Field House, a new
state-of-the-art basketball practice facility; the Red Storm has
already played three contests in The World’s Most Famous Arena,
Madison Square Garden; and a matchup with perennial powerhouse
Connecticut at MSG is scheduled for this year.
Prior to last season, Barnes Arico was named the Basketball
Coaches Association of New York Division I Women’s Coach of the
Year after leading the 2004-05 St. John’s team to a postseason
berth (WNIT) for the first time in 17 years.
Her second-year team returned to the BIG EAST Tournament field
after missing the previous two seasons and in just her first
season, Barnes Arico took a team that went 3-24 overall and 0-16 in
the BIG EAST and turned it into an 8-19 team that won its first
conference game in two years.
The turnaround proved to the basketball world what St. John’s
already knew – Kim Barnes Arico and her staff had the ability to
put St. John’s back on the women’s basketball map.
She had the distinction of being the coach that led St. John’s
in its first-ever women’s basketball game in Madison Square Garden,
and notched her 100th-career victory in her first season with the
Red Storm.
The Barnes Arico Era at St. John’s officially began on May 7,
2002, as she was named the seventh head coach in the 28-year
history of the women’s basketball program. Since that time, she has
put heart and determination back into the St. John’s women’s
basketball team, and has the program on track to be a conference
and national force.
Prior to arriving at St. John’s, Barnes Arico achieved a great
deal of success in three seasons as the head coach at Division II
Adelphi, leading the Panthers to three consecutive postseason
appearances. During that time, her teams turned in a 65-24 overall
mark (.730), including a 28-win season in 2001-02. That year, she
guided the Panthers to their first NCAA Tournament bid since
1987.
In what would be her final season there, Adelphi won its
first-ever New York Collegiate Athletic Conference (NYCAC)
Championship and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA
Tournament, posting a 28-3 record along the way. After starting the
season with 21 consecutive wins, the team earned its first national
ranking in school history, finishing with a final ranking of No.
12. Barnes Arico was named NYCAC, NIT/Metropolitan Basketball
Writers Division II and Nassau County Sports Commission Outstanding
Female Coach of the Year.
In 2000-01, Adelphi finished the regular season tied for second
in the NYCAC with a 19-11 record. The Panthers headed to their
second straight Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament,
where they finished second.
In her first season at Adelphi, Barnes Arico guided her team to
an 18-10 record, tying the program high for wins in a season. She
used her fundamental style to lead the Panthers to her first
postseason berth, qualifying for the ECAC Tournament. For her work,
Barnes Arico was honored as the 2000 NYCAC Coach of the Year.
In addition to her coaching duties, Barnes Arico also served as
an assistant athletic director and the academic liaison for
student-athletes at Adelphi. She also served as a member of the
NCAA Division II Northeast Regional Selection Committee and the
ECAC Advisory Committees.
Barnes Arico began her head coaching career in 1996 at Fairleigh
Dickinson-Madison, a Division III university in New Jersey. In her
only season with the Devils, she led FDU to a 13-11 overall
record.
Barnes Arico moved on to the New Jersey Institute of Technology,
where she directed a program making the transition from Division
III to Division II. After going 5-21 during the 1997-98 season, the
Highlanders finished 11-16 the following season. The turnaround
earned NJIT a sixth-place finish in the NYCAC and Barnes Arico New
Jersey Coach of the year honors.
A native of Mastic Beach, N.Y., Barnes Arico helped lead Stony
Brook University to the 1989 NCAA Division III tournament as a
freshman.
Barnes Arico spent her final three years of eligibility at
Montclair State University, serving as captain during her junior
and senior campaigns. As the Red Hawks leading scorer, she guided
the team to back-to-back ECAC tournament appearances in 1990 and
1991.
Barnes Arico, a Montclair State scholar athlete, graduated in
1993 with a bachelor of science in physical education and
health.
This season, she will serve a second year as a member of the
Kodak All-American Selection Committee.
Barnes Arico and her husband, Larry Arico, the athletic director
and head football coach at Marist High School, reside in Glen Rock,
N.J. They have a son, Trevor (5) and a daughter, Emma (1).