Joe Zinni was named interim head coach on February 7, 2010, becoming the 10th head coach in SVSU history.   He began his third season as Saginaw Valley State University’s assistant women’s basketball coach. Zinni came to SVSU following a very successful season as an assistant coach for the women’s basketball team at Genesee Community College. They finished with a 24-6 record and finished in the top eight at the NJCAA DII National Tournament.

From 2002-2007, he was an assistant coach with the boys’ junior varsity and varsity teams at Batavia High School in New York. During his tenure at Batavia High, he helped develop their forwards and coordinate their defensive scheme, as well as scout opponents and instruct at numerous off-season camps. He was also part of the 2005 Class “A” Sectional and Far West Regional varsity team that made it to the state tournament for the first time in school history.

Since 2005, he was an assistant tournament director for two annual Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) tournaments, as well as a head coach in the Rochester Area Players (RAP) AAU program. He was named a Board of Director for RAP in 2006.

For the past two seasons, he was an assistant coach for the scholastic boys’ Western Region basketball team at the Empire State Games, helping guide the team to a bronze medal in 2007 and a gold medal in 2008.

Zinni is a 2006 graduate of Buffalo State College where he earned his B.A. in broadcasting and minored in athletic coaching.