Entering his fourth season with the Navy men’s golf program, Jimmy Criscione has helped guide the Midshipmen to one of the program’s most successful stretches in recent years. A PGA Class A Professional, Criscione arrived in Annapolis in the summer of 2023 after spending the previous two years as the head coach at Wagner College in Staten Island, New York.
Since arriving in Annapolis, Criscione has helped Navy rise from No. 273 nationally in 2023 to No. 147, marking significant program progress. The Midshipmen have built on that momentum with an outstanding 2025-26 season, highlighted by a victory at the Commander-In-Chief’s Cup at Winged Foot Golf Club, a runner-up finish at their home tournament, The Goat, and a 6-5 win over Army in the annual Army–Navy Star Match. The season concluded with a Patriot League Championship, the program’s first title since 2018, earning a berth in the NCAA Winston-Salem Regional. Alongside head coach Jimmy Stobs, the duo was named Patriot League Coaching Staff of the Year.
Criscione has overseen multiple Midshipmen earning postseason recognition during his tenure. In 2026, Tarzy and Chip Deegan garnered First-Team All-Patriot League honors, while Deegan was also named Patriot League Player of the Year after recording six top-10 finishes, including five top-five performances, and winning the conference title. He posted a team-best 71.78 stroke average and climbed to No. 333 nationally following his Patriot League Championship victory.
Team captain Jack Tarzy delivered a standout season, earning medalist honors in four events, including The Goat, Commander-In-Chief’s Cup, Nassau Intercollegiate, and the Golden Horseshoe Intercollegiate. His four victories marked the most by a Navy golfer in a single season since Billy Hurley captured six titles during the 2003-04 campaign.
The Mids made a huge leap forward from the 2023-24 to 2024-25 season, improving upon a 303.2 stroke average to a 295.5 mark. Additionally, Navy’s winning percentage nearly doubled (19-91-1 / 35-79-3). The Mids earned their first team win when they captured the Alex Lagowitz Memorial to open the 2024-25 campaign where they turned in a 3-under par 573 to top the field. Tarzy and Benjamin Valdez each earned First-Team All-Patriot League accolades with top-five finishes at the Patriot League Tournament, while Deegan later added PING All-Northeast Region honors and Second-Team All-Patriot League recognition.
Prior to Navy, Criscione took over the Wagner men’s golf program in 2021-22. In his first season, he led the Seahawks to a pair of match play victories, including a 3.5–1.5 win over Canisius and a 5–1 triumph over Saint Peter’s at Montclair Golf Club. Wagner closed the season at the Northeast Conference Championship, where Tyler Galantini posted a top-five finish.
In 2022-23, Wagner opened the fall with a program-low 282 at the Ryan T. Lee Memorial Collegiate and later recorded back-to-back runner-up finishes at The Seawane Classic and the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Championship, where Thomas Choi earned medalist honors with a final-round 66. Under Criscione’s leadership, the Seahawks set a program record with a 292 stroke average and competed in six spring tournaments, including the NEC Championship, where Choi tied for second and earned All-NEC Tournament honors along with second-team All-NEC recognition.
Wagner earned the 2023 Mark Laesch Award for top stroke improvement among NCAA Division I teams, improving by 16.63 strokes in adjusted scoring average per round. Criscione also earned his master’s degree in media management from Wagner in May 2023.
A PGA Class A Professional, Criscione is certified through the Titleist Performance Institute (Levels I, II, and III), is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and is a Golf Digest Certified Fitness Instructor. He also completed the SuperCoach54 Training Program under Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott.
A member of the Golf Coaches Association of America and the American Junior Golf Association, Criscione has experience in tournament operations with the New Jersey PGA and worked as a writer for LRT Sports, contributing articles, blog posts, and interviews focused on college athletics. In April 2020, he published his first children’s book,
Little Timmy, about a young boy who learns life lessons through baseball.
Criscione transitioned into coaching following a strong collegiate career at Monmouth, where he was a four-year member of the golf team from 2018 to 2021. He recorded two top-15 and three top-25 finishes and was named Pepsi Zero MAAC Student-Athlete of the Week in April 2020. A team captain as a senior, he served as president of the Monmouth Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was a three-year board member. He earned MAAC All-Academic Team honors three times and was a three-year MAAC Academic Honor Roll selection. Criscione graduated
summa cum laude in May 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and decision sciences, along with a minor in health studies.
A native of Paramus, New Jersey, Criscione attended Bergen Catholic High School, where he was a member of three state championship teams and earned two First-Team All-State selections. He also won the American High School Championship in St. Andrews, Scotland, in 2014.
