Mike Larkin returns for his seventh season with the Scarlet Knights in 2025-26. Larkin is the Director of Basketball Operations for head coach Steve Pikiell's Scarlet Knights.
Larkin originally joined the RU staff for the 2019-2020 campaign. He initially joined as the Special Assistant to the Head Coach, before earning a promotion to the Director of Basketball Operations role.
A native of Patchogue (N.Y.), he arrived “On the Banks” after serving as associate head coach at Saint Michael’s College.
“Mike is a very talented and dedicated individual who makes Rutgers Basketball better,” said head coach Steve Pikiell on the date of the appointment. “He brings a track record of meeting challenges and achieving success at the Division II and III levels. Most importantly, he is a character person committed to a winning culture.”
Larkin assists in a range of duties related to the coordination and administration of the program, while providing executive-level support to Pikiell. He is responsible for film breakdown and analysis, opponent scouting, facility management, practice planning, and the program’s recruiting efforts. Following his arrival before the 2019-20 season, RU enjoyed a program renaissance, participating in post-season play in three-straight seasons.
In 2020-21, RU earned its first NCAA Tournament bid since 1991 and earned an opening round victory over Clemson that marked RU’s first NCAA Tournament since 1983. The Scarlet Knights posted their first winning season in 14 years with a 20-11 record in 2019-20. It was the program’s first 20-win regular season in 37 years. The team had 18 regular season home wins, the most in the nation and a program record. Larkin was key in the scheduling of Head Coach Steve Pikiell for all men’s basketball needs, such as practices, events, media needs and more.
Larkin spent seven seasons on staff at Saint Michael’s, including the last four as associate head coach. During his tenure he helped guide the Purple Knights to 18 wins in back-to-back seasons including the first NE-10 Semifinal appearance in 14 years.
Along with leading the program to its two most successful seasons since the turn of the century, he helped develop and coach four players that went on to play professionally beyond their time at Saint Michael’s. With a reputation for identifying and recruiting under-valued talent, he was instrumental in the recruitment of three Northeast-10 Conference All-Rookie honorees, including the 2019-20 NE-10 Rookie of the Year.
Prior to his arrival in Colchester (VT), Larkin served as a graduate intern for two seasons at Rutgers-Newark and was an assistant coach at Bard (NY) College. During his time at Rutgers-Newark he was tasked with leading the program’s in-state recruiting efforts and developing the Scarlet Raiders back court players.
Larkin was a Jacob Albright Scholar and a member of the Spanish Honor Society at Albright College, where he helped the Lions to 17-9 records as a junior and senior before earning a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and a Bachelor of Science in math in 2009.
He completed his master’s degree in public administration at Rutgers-Newark in 2012. Larkin and his wife Margaret reside in Hillsborough, New Jersey.
