Kenny Finco became the 27th head coach in the history of the Ripon College men's basketball program on April 3, 2023. He enters his second season leading the Red Hawks in 2024-25.
In his first season, Ripon played one of the toughest non-conference schedules and was rewarded. After starting 2-11 overall, and 4-7 later in conference play, the Red Hawks won their final five MWC contests to earn another berth in the Midwest Conference Tournament. Luke Meinholz was named an All-Midwest Conference performer after setting a single-season program record with 73 steals. Under Finco, Ripon made 194 three-pointers in 2023-24, fifth-most in school history, and attempted 1,629 field goals -- second-most in a single season. Additionally, the Red Hawks had the #1 defense in Midwest Coference play, allowing 66.6 points per game.
Prior to arriving at Ripon, he served as an assistant men’s basketball coach and an assistant in the sports performance center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. During his six-year coaching tenure, La Crosse went 99-46 overall and 48-28 in the WIAC. In 2021-2022, the Eagles’ 21 overall wins tied the single-season school record for victories. UW-La Crosse was consistently ranked in the Top 25 for the last three seasons, reaching its highest rankings in program history in 2022-23 at #3. The Eagles were selected to the NCAA Tournament twice in the past four tournaments and advanced to the second round in 2022 for the first time in program history. Finco played a crucial role in the recruitment, development and preparation of these players over the last six years.
Prior to his coaching tenure, Finco earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise sport science with a fitness emphasis at UW-La Crosse, where he was a three-year letter earner. Appearing in 73 career games, including 22 starts, he averaged 7.9 points and 2.0 rebounds in his senior season while playing in all 27 games with 19 starts. He scored in double figures in nine games, including a career-high 21 points versus UW-Stout. He was named to the 2016-17 All-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Sportsmanship Team. The team also won the regular season WIAC title for the first time in 51 years.
Finco is a native of Hartland, Wisconsin, where he and his two brothers were introduced early to football, basketball and baseball. He became passionate about basketball as he took up the sport in school.
