By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
Fort Hays State University announced on Wednesday (Jan. 17) the hiring of Alex Nichols as its next head men’s soccer coach. Nichols becomes the third head coach in the program’s history, which dates back to 2011.
A native of Kansas City, Mo., Nichols brings to FHSU an impressive overall record of 162-38-15 (.788) as a collegiate men’s soccer head coach with two national championships, two national coach of the year honors, and four national semifinal appearances at the NAIA level to his credit.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to lead Fort Hays State into the future,” said Nichols. “Curtis Hammeke, Brad Haynes, and the entire Athletic Administration made me feel at home right away. I could immediately see this is a University that is passionate about people and place that is going to strive for excellence daily. I am extremely excited to get to work on building a culture of champions on the field, in the classroom, and in the community.”
“We look forward to Alex’s leadership of our men’s soccer program,” said FHSU Athletic Director Curtis Hammeke. “His knowledge, passion, and work ethic are traits we feel will lead the program in a positive direction both on and off the field.”
Nichols most recently was head coach at Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens, Fla., during the 2023 season. He made an instant impact for the Lions, guiding the program to six more wins than it had the previous year by finishing 9-8-2 overall and an appearance in the Sun Conference Tournament for the first time since 2015. It was the program’s first winning record since the 2016 season. The Lions had three all-conference performers in 2023. They also received votes in the NAIA Top 25 poll for the first time in program history.
Nichols produced the majority of his success at Central Methodist University (Mo.), where he was head coach for nine years from 2014-2022. He guided the Eagles to back-to-back NAIA National Championships in 2018 and 2019. Central Methodist won the 2018 national title in dramatic fashion on penalty kicks by a count of 4-3 over conference rival Missouri Valley College after playing to a 2-2 draw, then repeated as national champs in 2019 with a 3-1 win over Hastings College (Neb.) to cap a school record 25-win season. Nichols produced an overall record of 153-30-13 while at Central Methodist, including a staggering 107-7-7 record in his final five seasons coaching the Eagles.
To go with its back-to-back national titles, Central Methodist won five straight Heart of America Athletic Conference regular season titles from 2018-2022 on Nichols’ watch. The Eagles were conference tournament champs for four straight years from 2019-2022. His 2018, 2019, and 2020-21 squads lost only one regular season match, while his 2021 and 2022 squads both went undefeated in the regular season before taking their only loss of each season in the NAIA national tournament. CMU had a 37-match unbeaten streak in regular season play that started during the 2020-21 campaign and lasted through the end of the 2022 regular season, going 32-0-5 in that stretch. The Eagles had no more than two losses overall in each of the final five seasons of Nichols’ tenure (2018-2022), reaching the No. 1 ranking in the NAIA Top 25 poll in each of those seasons.
Nichols coached 27 NAIA All-America selections and 56 all-conference selections while at Central Methodist. He coached the NAIA National Player of the Year, Adrian Gutierrez, in 2018. He also coached four Players of the Year, four Offensive Players of the Year, three Defensive Players of the Year, one Newcomer of the Year, and one Freshman of the Year in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Nichols and his coaching staff received National Coaching Staff of the Year honors from United Soccer Coaches in both 2018 and 2019, while he also earned NAIA National Coach of the Year honors those seasons. He was the Heart of American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year five straight years from 2018 to 2022. Nichols was inducted into the Central Methodist Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023.
Prior to his nine-year run as head coach at Central Methodist, Nichols spent a season (2013) as an assistant coach and goalkeeper coach at Columbia College (Mo.) for both the men’s and women’s programs. He also coached at Rock Bridge High School from 2009-2013 and was named the MHSAA Class 3 Central Region Coach of the Year in his time leading the program. Rock Bridge spent time ranked among the top 20 nationally for all classes during his tenure.
At the club level, Nichols headed programs Sporting Columbia and Kaw Valley FC. Sporting Columbia is an affiliate of Sporting KC and was ranked No. 1 in the start of Missouri during Nichols time heading the program. Kaw Valley FC is part of United Soccer League 2. Nichols coached a pair of MLS Super Draft Picks with Kaw Valley, which included a first-round and a third-round selection. He coached Kaw Valley to its best record and single-season winning percentage in 2022.