Joshua LaRosa is in his tenth year at Penn and was promoted to Deputy Director of Athletics prior to the 2026-27 academic year. He arrived at Penn as the Assistant AD, Equipment and Licensing in 2017, and was elevated to Associate AD in 2021, serving three years overseeing both internal and external operations. LaRosa spent the previous three years as a Senior Associate AD and currently serves as the sport administrator for men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer and men's and women's lacrosse.
He leads the Division's efforts to elevate the competitive success of all intercollegiate programs and guides DRIA's multi-year admissions and financial aid recruitment strategy. This past year, he has been instrumental in leading coach education and development to achieve greater competitive success and improving admissions and recruiting processes. As sport administrator, his teams have achieved high levels of success in men's basketball (NCAA Tournament in 2026) and men's soccer (Ivy League Champions in 2022, 2023, 2024, NCAA Tournament in 2022 and 2024).
LaRosa also coordinates special projects including the Cathedral of College Basketball Classic, the Philadelphia Big 5 and the Palestra 100 celebration.
In his previous role as Senior Associate AD, External Operations, he oversaw all external areas for the Division, including communications, social media, marketing, branding, the Penn Sports Network, and creative and video content.
Before his arrival to University City, LaRosa served as the Director of Equipment and Transportation at Georgetown University for four years. LaRosa oversaw equipment operations for all 33 sports.
A native of Groton, Vermont, LaRosa graduated from the University of Kansas in 2011. While in Lawrence, he served internships in corporate sponsorship and equipment operations with Jayhawk Sports Marketing (IMG) and Kansas Athletics. LaRosa also served as an assistant coach for the Boys Basketball program at Lawrence Free State High School
After graduation, LaRosa spent two seasons as a graduate assistant in Equipment Operations at the University of Connecticut, working primarily with the men’s and women’s basketball programs. He assisted with all equipment needs, including transportation for games, daily preparation at Gampel Pavilion, and inventory needs relating to all players, coaches, and staff. LaRosa earned his Master’s in Kinesiology, with an emphasis in Sports Administration from UConn in 2012.
