David Nichols brings a wealth of collegiate volleyball coaching experience to the LTU staff, having made several stops at the NCAA Division I and II level as both an assistant and head coach.
Nichols was the head women's volleyball coach at Florida Gulf Coast University (2008-2013) for six seasons. He led the Eagles to a 99-82 mark which included five A-Sun Tournament appearances and two A-Sun regular-season championships.
Before FGCU, Nichols spent 12 seasons as the head coach at Barry University as one of the premier coaches in NCAA Division II where he won two national championships and finished as the national runner-up once. He guided teams to three Sunshine State Conference titles and 11 trips to the NCAA tournament in 12 years in Miami Shores. Nichols was named National Coach of the Year in 2001 after guiding Barry to the national championship with a 32-2 record.
While leading the Buccaneers program, Nichols coached 13 AVCA All-Americans, five Volleyball Monthly All-Americans, four Daktronics, Inc., All-Americans, and three CoSIDA Academic All-Americans. He also helped develop 29 AVCA All-Region selections and 40 All-Sunshine State Conference selections as well. Nichols was named SSC Coach of the Year three times (2001, 2003, and 2004) as well as the AVCA South Region Coach of the Year in 1997, 2001, and 2004.
Before Barry, Nichols was an assistant at Arizona State where he helped lead the Sun Devils to their most successful season in program history finishing the year ranked #10 in the nation. He was also an assistant at Cal from 1988-92 and helped lead the Bears to the postseason on three occasions.
Nichols, a native of southern California, grew up playing volleyball on the beach with the likes of Ron Von Hagen, Greg Lee, and Wilt Chamberlain. He graduated from UCLA in 1976 after helping the team win three national championships. Nichols enjoyed a successful professional career before beginning his coaching career as a graduate assistant for the Bruins.
