Mesa Alum, Jake Rico enters his 3 rd season as an assistant coach for the Olympians as of Fall 2024. Rico’s
will serve the 2025 squad as Catching Coach, Third Base Coach, Recruiting Coordinator, and take the
lead on Field Maintenance duties.

Coach Rico’s previous 2 seasons as an assistant coach saw the Olympians have much improvement. Both
seasons the Catchers have produced honorable mention all-conference players, with Darren Cho and
Jose Perez transferring to PLNU and OUAZ, respectively. The pitching staff’s ERA has continued to lower
with Rico leading the Catchers. Jake has also served at First Base Coach and Athletic Retention
Technician in his time coaching at Mesa.

Prior to Mesa, Rico’s first collegiate coaching stop was at NCAA Division 2, Cal State San Marcos from
2020-2022. Jake coached multiple Mesa Alum while at CSUSM, including Kevin Van Linge, Jacob Casson,
and Zack Jordan. Under the tutelage of Head Coach Matt Guiliano, the Cougars competed well in the
CCAA and RHP Garrett Apker signed with the Detroit Tigers following the 2022 season.

In addition to his coaching at Mesa, Jake is also the manager of the San Diego Waves Summer Collegiate
team. The Waves have tremendous history, often qualifying for the NBC World Series in Wichita, Kansas
every summer, as well as yearly trips to Alaska to play the illustrious Alaska Goldpanners in the Mid
Night Sun Game. Multiple Waves player have gone on to play professional baseball.

Before starting his coaching Career, Rico enjoyed an excellent senior season as the back stop for CSUSM.
During the 2019 season, Rico won the team’s ‘Cougar’ Award on his way to slugging 3 home runs en
route to a .423 slugging percentage and a .354 on-base percentage. Rico also threw out 33% of would be
base stealers.

Preceding CSUSM, Jake spent the 2017 and 2018 seasons at Sonoma State where the Sea Wolves tallied
50 wins alongside more Mesa alum, Nate Mann and Alex Emerick.

Rico started his collegiate playing career at San Diego Mesa. Rico was a 2-year starter for the Olympians.
During his Sophomore campaign in 2016, Rico posted the fourth-highest batting average on the team at
.333. Culminated an On-base percentage of .421, slugging percentage of .434, and his 10 doubles ranked
second on the team. Jake finished with a fielding percentage of .987 and caught nine runners stealing to
being named an All-Conference honorable mention. His Freshman season in 2015 was equally as
impressive. Coach Rico hit .310 with a .397 on-base percentage, a .398 slugging percentage, and a team-
leading two home runs. Jake had a fielding percentage of .975 and caught 15 runners stealing while
earning his first All-Conference honorable mention.

Jake earned his M.S. in Exercise Science from California Baptist University, B.A. from CSU San Marcos,
and an A.A. from Mesa College.

Jake is a graduate of local Scripps Ranch High School. He and Fiancé, Ashley reside in San Diego.