Ricky Muench joined the Lions in the spring of 2020, with the 2025-26 season being his sixth on the Bluff. Ahead of the 2023-24 season, Muench received a promotion to Assistant Coach following three years as the Director of Basketball Operations for the Lions. As an assistant coach, Muench will have an increased role in all aspects of the program, including recruiting, scouting, and player development.
The 2022-23 season was historic for LMU Basketball. The Lions beat Gonzaga, Saint Mary's, and BYU all in the same season, with two of those wins coming with the Zags and Gaels holding top-15 rankings. The Lions earned the highest ranked win in program history on Jan. 19, 2023, by defeating the sixth-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs in Spokane and ending GU's 75-game home win streak, run of 93 straight wins over unranked teams, and 25 consecutive wins over the Lions. The Lions beat their second nationally ranked team on Feb. 9, 2023, as LMU defended home court and beat 15th-ranked Saint Mary's at Gersten Pavilion becoming the first LMU basketball team with multiple wins over top-15 programs and multiple wins over ranked teams for the first time in over a decade. In total, LMU beat four NCAA Tournament teams in 2022-23, with LMU defeating both Nevada and Grand Canyon in consecutive games in the non-conference. The Lions won 19 games that season, including winning the Jamaica Classic in November of 2022 with wins over Georgetown and Wake Forest in Montego Bay.
In 2024-25, Muench helped lead LMU to two separate win streaks of five games apiece. The Lions closed out non-conference play with five wins in a row and then, for the first time since 1991, won five consecutive wins in conference play.
For the second time in the last three years, the LMU Men's Basketball Team left foreign soil as MTE Champions. The Lions followed their 2022 Jamaica Classic title with a second in-season tournament title during his tenure leading the Lions. The Lions defeated Belmont in the opening game of the tournament and then overcame a 10-point deficit with less than six minutes to play in the second half to clinch the Championship.
Following the season, Jevon Porter and Caleb Stone-Carrawell were named to the All-WCC Honorable Mention team. For the fourth consecutive, LMU men's basketball had two players selected to the West Coast Conference's All-Academic Team. Rick Issanza and Alex Merkviladze have been voted to the league's All-Academic team with Lamaj Lewis earning Honorable Mention recognition.
The 2020-21 season saw meteoric growths across the board for LMU men’s basketball. The Lions finished in the top three of the West Coast Conference standings for the first time since 2005-06. Muench helped guide his team through the COVID-19 pandemic and posted a winning record in the WCC for the first time since 2011-12. LMU has posted a top-100 ranking in the NCAA’s NET, college basketball’s comprehensive metric that takes into account record, quality opponents faced, and game location, among others. LMU’s 95 ranking is the highest NET (or RPI at that time) since the Elite Eight season of 1990.
Prior to joining the Lions, Muench spent the 2019-20 NBA season with the Milwaukee Bucks as a Video & Player Development Assistant. In this role, Muench helped create scouting reports alongside the Buck’s staff. Additionally, he worked hand-in-hand with the Milwaukee Buck’s staff on developing the players through workouts and film.
In four years as an undergrad, Muench worked with Johnson’s Marquette teams as a student manager. By his senior year, Muench was responsible for overseeing all 13 managers and assisting the staff with player development, scouting, and recruiting.
Muench graduated from Marquette in May 2019 with his bachelor of science in mathematics. Ricky and Megan Muench were happily married in 2021.
COACHING EXPERIENCE:
2023-Present – LMU as an Assistant Coach
2020-23 – LMU as the Director of Operations
2019-20 – Milwaukee Bucks as Video & Player Development Assistant
2015-19 – Marquette as Student-Manager
