Jimmy Criscione is in his fourth season as a member of the Navy men’s golf coaching staff. 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, N.Y.
Since his arrival in Annapolis, Criscione has seen three Mids garner postseason recognition. In 2024, Jack Tarzy and Benjamin Valdez placed among the top five in the Patriot League Tournament to garner First-Team All-Patriot League accolades. In 2025, Chip Deegan garnered PING All-Northeast Region honors following a standout season that included Second-Team All-Patriot League laurels. Last season, Deegan and Tarzy both earned PING All-Northeast Region accolades after both players were selected as First-Team All-Patriot League players. Deegan captured the Patriot League Tournament individual title en route to being named the Patriot League Player of the Year. Deegan and Tarzy finished the year with the second (71.77) and third-lowest (72.57) stroke averages in program history. Additionally, the pair finished with second (73.22) and third-lowest (73.62) career stroke averages in Navy history. Tarzy won four individual titles in his senior campaign, the most by a Navy player since Billy Hurley won six tournaments in 2023-24. Tarzy’s four-career wins are tied as the third most in program history, while Deegan picked up a pair of wins over his career.
Meanwhile, the Mids have also flourished in the classroom. Valdez graduated in May among the top 13 percent of his class in academic order of merit, was twice named to the Patriot League Men’s Golf All-Academic Team and was selected as a 2024-25 Cobalt All-America Scholar. Tarzy, a member of the 2026 Patriot League All-Academic Team, was also named a 2025-26 NCAA Division I Cobalt Golf All-America Scholar.
The Mids have made significant strides over the last three years under the guidance of Criscione and head coach Stobs, who were named the Patriot League Men’s Golf Coaching Staff of the Year last spring. Navy improved from a 304.96 stroke average in 2023-24 to a 297.7 mark in 2024-25. Last year, the Mids closed out the year with a 292.6 stroke average. According to Scoreboard’s adjusted scoring average, Navy jumped from a 303.2 to a 295.5 to a 292.6. Additionally, Navy’s winning percentage took another major step forward (19-91-1 / 35-79-3 / 55-83-3).
The Mids earned their first team win in the Stobs era when they captured the Alex Lagowitz Memorial to open the 2024-25 campaign, turning in a 3-under par 573 to top the field.
Navy enjoyed a historic stretch of success, highlighted by a victory at the Commander-In-Chief’s Cup at Winged Foot Golf Club on Oct. 1, 2025, and consecutive Star victories over Army, defeating the Black Knights 6-5 on Oct. 12, 2025, and 6.5-4.5 on Oct. 4, 2026. The Mids overcame an eight-stroke deficit to capture the 2026 Patriot League Championship, with Chip Deegan earning individual medalist honors and Deegan and freshman Hudson Mitchell securing spots on the all-tournament team. Navy also made its first NCAA Regional appearance under Stobs at the 2026 NCAA Winston-Salem Regional.
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.
