TSU Men’s Basketball Elevates Jerry Nichols To Associate Head Coach

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Jerry Nichols. Photo: Courtesy of Tennessee State Athletics

Tennessee State University (TSU) men’s basketball Head Coach Brian “Penny” Collins has elevated Jerry Nichols to Associate Head Coach for the upcoming 2023-2024 season.

Entering his sixth season on the TSU sidelines, Nichols has been a mainstay alongside Collins since his hiring in 2018. No stranger as a head coach, Nichols compiled a 200-59 record in nine seasons at the junior college level.

Prior to working with Collins, the two battled as opposing coaches in Region Seven of the Tennessee Community College Athletic Association. Collins was the Head Coach of Columbia State at the time.

A native of Memphis, Nichols won five TCCAA Coach of the Year honors. He got his first head coaching role at Motlow State (2009-2013), and moved to Southwest Tennessee from 2013-2018 until his appointment at TSU.

At Southwest Tennessee, Nichols picking up three TCCAA Coach of the Year awards and won 120 games in five highly-successful seasons. Nichols’ Saluqis finished 18th or better in the final NJCAA Division I polls in four of his five seasons. Southwest finished 11th twice, including the 2015-2016 season, when the Saluqis went 30-5 and earned a berth in the NJCAA Elite Eight.

Nichols won his first two TCCAA Coach of the Year awards at Motlow State, where he went 80-31 serving as the Head Coach and Athletics Director. His best season with the Bucks came in 2012-2013, when his team won the TCCAA Championship and earned a berth in the NJCAA National Tournament. Motlow State finished 13th in the final NJCAA Division I poll in 2013.

Nichols began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Walters State Community College during the 2006-2007 season before heading to Union College in Kentucky for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons.

He has been a USA Basketball contributor through the years and served as a coach for the USA Basketball Under 18 Junior National Team in 2016 at the FIBA Americas U18 Championships in Valdivia, Chile which featured eight national teams from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean.

As a player, Nichols starred for Westwood High School in Memphis, and went on to become a two-time All-American guard at Walters State Community College. The two-time TCCAA Player of the Year ranked ninth in the nation, scoring 21.6 points per game as a sophomore. He continued his education and playing career at Arkansas State, where he led the team in three-point shooting and was deemed their top defensive player his junior season. Nichols also received ASU’s Leadership Award as a senior.

Nichols graduated from Arkansas State in 2006 and earned his graduate degree from Union College in 2009.

Steven Boero
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