Shane Nichols enters his second season after joining the Radford men’s basketball staff as an assistant coach on April 27, 2021. He is the older brother of current Radford head coach Darris Nichols.
A mainstay in the local community, Nichols attended Radford High School where he scored over 1,800 points, earning All-State honors as a junior and senior. At the time of his graduation, he stood as the program’s second all-time leading scorer and was a three-time All-District and All-Region selection. In 2021, Shane and Darris were both inducted into the Radford High School Athletics Hall of Fame.
Before returning to his hometown, Nichols helped build Murray State into one of the premier mid-major programs in the nation as an assistant coach over the course of six seasons. He played a huge role in an historic stretch that included three-straight OVC regular season championships (2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20) and two OVC Tournament titles (2017-18, 2018-19).
The Racers’ 2018-19 season featured 28 wins, marking the 10th time in 94 seasons that Murray State posted 25 or more victories. MSU was regular season OVC champions for 26th time & made their 17th NCAA appearance. The Racers earned a No. 12 seed in the Big Dance and defeated No. 5 Marquette for their fourth-ever tournament victory. It proved to be the next step to the 2017-18 season, which saw the Racers go 26-6 overall and win the OVC regular season championship at 16-2.
Their run of success was due in part to rising-star Ja Morant, whom Nichols recruited and coached throughout his collegiate career. On top of the OVC consensus All-America selection, Morant, Nichols also coached OVC Player of the Year and Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention selection Jonathan Stark and OVC Defensive Player of the Year, Shaq Buchanan and All-OVC selections Tevin Brown and KJ Williams.
“I appreciate Coach Nichols for everything he's done for me,” said 2020 NBA Rookie of the Year, Ja Morant. “He always kept it real and held me accountable. He played a big part in my progression and was one of the reasons I made that big jump my sophomore season. He's one of a kind and I know any player would love to have him as a coach.”
Prior Murray State, Nichols was an assistant coach at Hofstra under coach Joe Mihalich for two seasons, including a 20-win 2014-15 campaign. He also assisted Mihalich during the 2012-13 season at Niagara.
Nichols began his coaching career an assistant coach at his alma mater, Wofford, helping the Terriers punch their ticket to the 2011 NCAA Tournament. A three-year starter as a player at Wofford, he scored 1,482 career points and was a multiple-time All-Southern Conference selection.
The standout also gained invaluable experience playing at the professional level for Orthodox Beit Jala in Isreal during the 2009 season. Nichols was a three-point contest champion in the league and even garnered votes for league MVP.
Nichols earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology after graduating from Wofford in 2008.
