UCA hires assistant soccer coach
Derek Nichols, a former UCA soccer letterman and graduate assistant coach is returning to UCA as assistant women’s soccer coach.
Nichols comes back to UCA after an eight-year stint as the head coach at Newman University, an NCAA Division II school in Wichita, Kan. At Newman, he guided the Jets to their first 10-win season as a full-fledged Division II program in 2010, and in 2006 — the school’s provisional year of D-II membership — led them to a 12-4-1 record, which equaled the lowest loss total in school history.
Nichols, who played in 36 games for the Bears in 1996 and ‘97, served as a graduate assistant for the men’s program from 2001-02. That 2002 team finished the year 17-2-2 and ranked No. 3 nationally, losing in the national semifinal to eventual national champion Sonoma State. In his two years on staff, the Bears were 30-8-2.
After leaving UCA, Nichols started the women’s soccer program at Lyon College in Batesville and served as head coach for two seasons. New UCA women’s head coach Jeremy Bishop oversaw the startup of the men’s program at Lyon during the same period.
