Rico Cabral

One of New England’s most recognizable names in collegiate basketball coaching circles, Rico Cabral enters his fourth season on the sidelines at Dean College in 2017-18.

In his first three seasons with the Bulldogs, who are in the midst of transitioning to full NCAA Division III membership, Cabral has guided the Cardinal and White to an impressive 61-26 overall record.

Among those 61 wins, was the 500th of his legendary coaching career on November 22, 2015.

Under his watch a pair of student-athletes moved on to Division I as full scholarship student-athletes and both earned National Junior College Association of America (NJCAA) All-American accolades.

In his first season with the Bulldogs, Cabral guided Dean to the 2015 Region XXI Championship and in 2017, he led his charges to the United States Collegiate Association of America (USCAA) National Tournament.

Prior to his arrival at Dean, Cabral spent 21 seasons as the head coach at Mount Ida College in Newton, Massachusetts. While with the Mustangs, Cabral took them from the junior college level all the way to full NCAA Division III membership.

Under his tutelage the Mustangs captured their first-ever (and still only) conference crown in 1999-00, when Mount Ida went 18-7 overall and 8-0 in the North Atlantic Conference (NAC), culminating a two-year stretch where they went undefeated against league competition (15-0).

Overall, Cabral won 281 games with the Mustangs and is still the program’s all-time winningest coach.

Prior to his time at Mount Ida, Cabral spent five seasons stalking the sidelines at Massasoit Community College (Brockton, Massachusetts) where his teams went a combined 108-50 and won 20 or more games in four of those five seasons.

Cabral has served as an assistant coach at Division I institutions as well, beginning at Saint Bonaventure in Olean, N.Y. and continuing on to Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

A former two-year star on the court at Massasoit from 1969-71, Cabral moved on to Boston State where he played for Boston Celtics legend Jim Loscutoff, serving as captain before graduating in 1976.

Cabral has received numerous honors throughout his coaching career, including being inducted into the Sharon (Mass.) High School Hall of Fame, the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and the respective Hall of Fames at Massasoit and Mount Ida. In addition, he was named the NJCAA Region XXI Coach of the Year six times and was named NAC Coach of the Year in 2000.

Cabral and his wife Patti, have two sons, Michael and Joseph, who works as a resident director and is the associate head coach at Dean.