Mike Nicholson
Assistant Coach | 7th Season
Mike Nicholson begins his seventh season as an assistant coach for Jennies basketball in 2020-21.
Nicholson is the Jennies top bench coach during games and works with the guards in practice. He's helped in the development of three-time All-American Paige Redmond as well as All-Americans Morgan Fleming and Megan Skaggs. The Jennies have had five All-Americans during Nicholson's tenure and 20 named to the All-MIAA team.
He is also the lead recruiter and in charge of scouting. He runs the scout team, going over opponents offensive and defensive sets in practice. Off the court, Nicholson is heavily involved in the academic side and is in charge of study hall. In Nicholson's six years, 60 Jennies have earned MIAA Academic Honor Roll honors.
Prior to coming to UCM, Nicholson was an assistant coach for the men's team at Missouri Western under former UCM head coach Tom Smith.
Nicholson spent 14 seasons over two stints as the top assistant at Missouri Western, most recently from 2007-2013. During his time in St. Joseph, he helped the Griffon men to 228 wins, three MIAA regular season championships, a pair of MIAA Tournament titles and five appearances in the NCAA-II Tournament. He helped in the development of two All-Americans, two MIAA MVPs and 11 All-MIAA players.
Before his time at Missouri Western, he spent six seasons as an assistant coach at Division I Missouri-Kansas City. Under the tutelage of Lee Hunt and former Mules coach Bob Sundvold, Nicholson developed a philosophy and understanding of what makes for a successful player and program at the collegiate level. He was a member of the staff that led the UMKC Kangaroos to the most wins in Division I in school history and he also played a role in the development of Tony Dumas, drafted in the first round (19th overall) by the Dallas Mavericks in the 1995 NBA Draft.
Nicholson played one season of college basketball at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, before transferring to the University of Missouri where he received his degree in Business Administration in 1990. Nicholson received his master's degree in Educational Administration from UMKC in 1994.
Mike and wife, Lisa, have two boys, Jake and Joe. Jake will be a junior at UCM in the fall of 2020.
