Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Former MAAC Star Nichols Joins Niagara Staff

MAAC fans only got to see Shane Nichols for one season, and it was a good one. The 6-foot-0 guard played well enough in the 2003-04 season at Saint Peter's to be named the conference's Rookie of the Year after averaging 10.6 points per game.

He was part of a dynamic backcourt for the Peacocks, alongside one of the conference's all-time great performers Keydren Clark.

And, then, Nichols was gone. He transferred to Wofford College where he played three more seasons and finished his college playing days with 1,482 points (1,176 of them at Wofford).

Now, Nichols is returning to the league where his college career began with the announcement earlier this week that he is joining head coach Joe Mihalich's staff as an assistant coach at Niagara.

"We are very happy to welcome coach Shane Nichols to our staff," said Mihalich, in a press release issued by Niagara. "Coach Nichols was a very good player and comes highly recommended in his role as an assistant at Wofford. Wofford has been extremely successful in the Southern Conference over the last three years. (Nichols) will help us on the floor and on the recruiting trail."

Nichols spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Wofford where he worked with film exchange, scouting and recruiting. Over that time the program had a 48-27 record while making two postseason appearances, including a trio to the NCAA tournament in 2011.

"I'm really excited to be at Niagara and to work for coach Mihalich," said Nichols, via the press release. "I played at Saint Peter's, so I'm familiar with the league and the success coach Mihalich and Niagara have had. I'm really excited to continue that success."

After graduating from Wofford in in 2008 Nichols played one season of professional basketball in Israel. Prior to joining the Wofford staff he served as an assistant coach at Radford (Va.) High School.

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