| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | Merrimack |
| Conference | MAAC |
| Record | 161–113 (.588) |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | February 8, 1980 New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 2000–2004 | Merrimack |
| Position(s) | Guard |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 2005–2009 | Merrimack (assistant) |
| 2010–2012 | Dartmouth (assistant) |
| 2012–2016 | Robert Morris (assistant) |
| 2016–present | Merrimack |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 161–113 (.588) |
| Tournaments | 2–3 (NCAA Division II) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| Northeast-10 tournament (2019) 3× NEC regular season (2020, 2023, 2024) NEC tournament (2023) | |
| Awards | |
| |
Joe Gallo (born February 8, 1980) is an American college basketball head coach and former player for the Merrimack Warriors men's basketball team. He was previously an assistant coach for Dartmouth and Robert Morris before he was hired as head coach at Merrimack in 2016. [1]
Gallo, a native of Milltown, New Jersey, played high school basketball at Princeton Day School before playing college basketball at Merrimack College. [2]
Gallo began his coaching career in 2005 as an assistant at Merrimack a year after he was a player for the Warriors. In 2010, Gallo was hired as an assistant under head coach Paul Cormier at Dartmouth. He was hired as an assistant under Andrew Toole at Robert Morris 2012. In 2015 Gallo was a key component to helping Robert Morris win that years NEC Tournament title and subsequent bid to the NCAA Tournament. [3] The following year In 2016, Gallo was hired as head coach at his alma mater, Merrimack, replacing Bert Hammel. [4] He led the warriors to the NCAA division II tournament 3 years in a row from 2017-2019, and would also lead the program to their first NE10 title in 19 years during the 2018-19 season. He finished his time coaching at the Division II level with an overall record of 61-34 and a conference record of 40-23.
The warriors jumped to division I in 2019. Gallo would lead Merrimack to a Northeast Conference regular season title in 2020, in its first season in Division I, Gallo would get a plethora of coaching awards at the end of the season. These included NEC Coach of the Year, HoopDirt.com NCAA Div. 1 Coach of the Year, John McLendon Award (Top collegiate coach nationwide, ECAC Coach of the Year, NABC District Coach of the Year, and USBWA Coach of the. [5] Capping off a historic season. During the 2021-22 season he would get his 100th career victory on February 12th 2022 beating Wagner 80-65 in overtime. Gallo would go on to lead the warriors to back 2 back regular season titles in 2023 and 2024 and would even win the NEC tournament in 2023. But him and the warriors could not go to the NCAA division I tournament due to NCAA transitional rule. He would get the warriors back to the NEC championship game in 2024 now eligible for the tournament but would fall to Wagner 54-47. This would be his last season coaching in the NEC. Finishing with a overall record of 82-64 and a conference record 58-28.
In 2024 Gallo and the warriors would move to the MAAC conference. [6] He led the warriors to a second place finish in their first year. Before eventually falling in the MAAC semifinals.
Gallo married his wife Megan on August 8th 2015. [3] The couple have 2 sons together Joe Jr and Trey. [7] [8]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merrimack Warriors (Northeast-10 Conference)(2016–2019) | |||||||||
| 2016–17 | Merrimack | 19–12 | 12–9 | T–3rd (Northeast) | NCAA Division II Regional Semifinals | ||||
| 2017–18 | Merrimack | 20–12 | 14–7 | 2nd (Northeast) | NCAA Division II Regional Semifinals | ||||
| 2018–19 | Merrimack | 22–10 | 14–7 | 2nd (Northeast) | NCAA Division II First Round | ||||
| Merrimack Warriors (Northeast Conference)(2019–2024) | |||||||||
| 2019–20 | Merrimack | 20–11 | 14–4 | 1st | |||||
| 2020–21 | Merrimack | 9–9 | 9–9 | T–5th | |||||
| 2021–22 | Merrimack | 14–16 | 10–8 | 4th | |||||
| 2022–23 | Merrimack | 18–16 | 12–4 | 1st | |||||
| 2023–24 | Merrimack | 21–12 | 13–3 | T–1st | |||||
| Merrimack Warriors (MAAC)(2024–present) | |||||||||
| 2024–25 | Merrimack | 18–15 | 14–6 | 2nd | |||||
| Merrimack: | 161–113 (.588) | 112–57 (.663) | |||||||
| Total: | 161–113 (.588) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||