Nickleberry Nabbed
After two assistant coaches were asked to depart, Georgetown head coach Pat Ewing has been involved in a national search, one in which a number of possible potential options have been evaluated. The Hoya Nation has been impatient, seeing rivals like Maryland deploy an entire new staff. Same for the likes of Xavier and a host of other institutions.
Well, at least one opening has been filled: Kevin Nickleberry is on staff.
Nickelberry is heading to The Hilltop from LSU where he spent two years, the last as assistant coach the first being assistant to the head coach. Given LSU's head coach, Will Wade, got dismissed late this season, Nickleberry coached the Tigers in NCAA Tournament action this month.
Prior to LSU, Nickleberry was head guy at Howard. His nine year stint on Georgia Avenue saw many milestones, including Howard's first postseason tournament since 1992, near perfect senior graduation rate and almost 50 players on the MEAC Commissioner's All-Academic team. Further burnishing his academic bonafides is a 1.000 Academic Progress Rate (the dreaded APR), in '14-15 and a minimum team GPA of 3.0 in eight of his seasons at HU.
On the floor, Nicklebery also carved out a brand - that of putting the Bison on solid footing. He's the second most willingness coach in school history.
First and foremost to that is talent acquisition; Howard pulled and prepared a trio of MEAC Top 50 all-time guys under Nickleberry in James Daniels, Charles Williams and RJ Cole. Daniels was MEAC Rookie of the Year and Player of the year, as was Cole. Both turned enough heads to garner and execute transfer opportunities from Tennessee and UConn, respectively. Williams was ROY and stands as the MEAC's top scorer, ever.
In his 30 plus year coaching career, Nickleberry has repeatedly been involved in recruiting/developing talented players - 20 of his guys have been tabbed the equivalent of newcomer of the year, while 10 more landed on all-conference teams.
This was consistent at LSU, where in addition to a pair of 20 win seasons and NCAA Tournament bids, he was part of recruiting classes that were tagged fifth and sixth nationally in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Individually, Nickleberry was lead recruiter for Efton Reid, a five star center who chose to attend school in Baton Rouge. Four star guards Brandon Murray and Justice Williams also joined LSU after Nickleberry's pursuit, while Adam Miller, Tari Eason and Xavier Pinson all arrived via the transfer portal and at least in part, his work.
For LSU's Tigers, Nickleberry not only engaged in pre-game scouting, but also helped during contests via game management, time out utilization and late clock circumstances. Player development wise, Nickleberry's baliwik was mostly improving guards.
In addition to Howard and LSU, Nickleberry has had stints at Hampton ('06-09) and Columbia Union's women's program ('91-94) as head coach plus multiple assistant coach stops - Columbia Union, Howard, Monmouth, Holy Cross, Charlotte and Clemson.
Nickleberry obviously has a wealth of experience in basketball, including working with Libya's national team. When head coaching that organization in 2009-10, Libya earned it's best finish in international play.
What are the implications of Nickleberry's hiring? Will it impact recruiting, both in the DMV (District-Maryland-Virginia) area and beyond?
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Welcome to Hoya Land goes out to Kevin Nickleberry!