Warren Caruso ’89, ‘08G, ‘18G has enjoyed an association with his alma mater for over 40 years as a player, a coach and an administrator.
The 2023-2024 season marked the 30th year of Husson University men’s basketball under the guidance of Warren Caruso, who also serves as Husson’s executive director of major gifts makes him the longest-tenured coach in Husson men’s basketball program history.
A four-year letterwinner with the Husson men’s basketball program, Caruso played as a shooting guard for hall of fame member Bruce MacGregor from 1985-1988.
The senior captain finished his career with 700 points, 160 rebounds, 69 steals and 107 assists while shooting 45.6 (251-541) percent from the floor, 37.6 (44-117) percent from the 3-point line and 70.0 (154-220) percent from the free throw line in 97 career games. Caruso averaged 7.2 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 0.7 steals per game in his career.
At the end of his playing days, Caruso ranked among the program’s top-25 career leaders in 3-point field goals made (fourth), 3-point field goals attempted (third), free throws made (tied for 24th), assists (12th), assist average (seventh), steals (eighth), steals average (tied for fourth) and games played (10th).
The 1985-1986 Allen Kenyon Award recipient helped guide the Braves to a 75-67 (.615) overall record with three Western Maine Athletic Conference runner-up finishes.
Following his playing career, he logged six seasons (1989-1994) as an assistant under MacGregor, a span during which Husson went 163-48 (.769) with two WMAC championships, a Maine Athletic Conference crown, two National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics District 5 titles and four NAIA national tournament appearances, including the program’s first-ever national tournament win over nationally ranked University of the Sciences (formally known as Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science). The No. 15 ranked Braves defeated the No. 14 ranked Devils by a score of 82-68 to advance to the program’s first-ever sweet sixteen.
Since taking over the men’s basketball program at Husson prior to the 1994-1995 campaign as the successor to the MacGregor, Caruso has the led the Eagles/Braves to a 561-268 record and 15 NAIA/National Collegiate Athletics Association Division III National Tournament appearances. He has also won 15 conference championships, two divisional conference titles and 16 regular season crowns, including the 2023-2024 North Atlantic Conference Championship, the program’s ninth title of any kind in a seven-year span.
Caruso has also raised the bar in the NAC by racking up the most wins (377) in the conference since the 2003-2004 season. Heading into the 2024-2025 season, Caruso was fifth in the nation in career victories among active Division III coaches and was in the top-50 among active Division III coaches in career winning percentage at .677.
In conference play, Caruso’s resume ranks second to none as he has amassed a career record of 341-77 against Maine Athletic, Sunrise and North Atlantic opponents and has won more than 81 percent of his league games.
The 13th head coach in Husson men’s basketball program history has recruited 23 of the 51 1,000-point scorers and one 2,000-point scorer since taking over the helm of the program. Additionally, Caruso has guided his teams to thirteen 20-win seasons, including three-in-a-row from 1996-1997 to 1998-1999, and five-in-a-row from 2012-2013 to 2016-2017 and has 27-winning campaigns during his tenure. His teams have also been ranked in the top-25 seven times, reaching as high as the 17th ranked team in the nation during the 2000-2001 season.
The winningest head coach in Husson men’s basketball program history - at the time of his induction - has been named conference coach of the year six times and Maine State coach of the year three times.
A total of eight of Caruso’s former players have already been inducted into the Husson University Sports Hall of Fame.
Caruso was the fourth member of the 1988-1989 men's basketball team - that was inducted into the hall of fame in 2014 as a team - to be inducted as an individual, joining MacGregor, Shawn Bolden ‘89, Mark Taylor '90, Buster Frederick '90, Kevin Hansley ‘90, Bobby Campbell '92 and Scott Nance '92.
Additionally, Caruso served as interim director of athletics from May 2013 to November 2013 and was the school’s first sports information director under the NCAA umbrella until 2009.
Caruso earned a bachelor of science in public accounting in 1989, a master of science in business in 2003 and a master of science in human relations in 2018, all from Husson.
A native of Bangor, Maine, Caruso attended Bangor High School.
