Chester Nichols

Bio

Back for his second season with the Jayhawk women’s basketball program is recruiting coordinator and perimeter coach Chester Nichols. Nichols arrived in Lawrence after spending the 2009-10 season at Central Florida, where he served a similar role with the Knights.

Prior to his year at UCF, Nichols spent the previous six seasons as an assistant coach at West Virginia University. A native of Ocala, Fla., Nichols is widely considered one of the nation’s top recruiters, and he played an instrumental role in bringing five top-20 recruiting classes to WVU. Following the 2009-10 season, several of Nichols’ WVU signees garnered all-conference honors including junior guard Sarah Miles, who was named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year and All-BIG EAST Second Team in 2009-10 after recording the fifth-most steals in Mountaineer history. Under Nichols’ watch, Miles was named the BIG EAST Most Improved Player following the 2008-09 season. She also recorded WVU top-10 single-season assist record marks during the 2004-05 and 2007-08 seasons. In addition, junior guard Korinne Campbell garnered All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention accolades at West Virginia.

During Nichols’ tenure at WVU, the Mountaineers appeared in three NCAA tournaments and advanced to the second round on two occasions. He also helped guide West Virginia to the championship game of the WNIT in 2005 and to the BIG EAST championship game in 2006. Nichols was recognized as one of the nation’s best assistant coaches by earning an invitation to Nike’s prestigious Villa 7 Coaches Consortium in Beaverton, Ore., in the summer of 2008.

Prior to his time at WVU, Nichols worked with the adidas/Premier Players, an AAU organization in Ocala. He spent one season as the head coach of the Florida Starzz and chief evaluator of the Rookie Sensations. Nichols has also worked as an assistant coach at Central Florida Community College, where he helped coach one NJCAA All-American and three Mid-Florida all-conference players.

Nichols is a 1997 graduate of Greenville College, where he played three seasons of varsity football while pursuing his degree in special education.