By Marty Gordon
Darris Nichols was named the Radford University men’s basketball coach just last week, and already he is putting together a coaching staff with at least one familiar name. Wednesday, he announced his brother, Shane, who has been an assistant at Murray State for the last six years, was joining him on the Highlander bench.
“Loved my six years at Murray State,” Nichols posted on social media Monday night. “I appreciate everyone who supported us through the ups and downs. Players and coaches are amazing. #racernation always family.”
In the 2018-19 Season, Murray State had 28 wins, marking the 10th time in 94 seasons that Murray State posted 25 or more victories. MSU was the regular season Ohio Valley Conference champions for the 26th time and made their 17th appearance in the NCAA tournament.
The Racers were a no.-12 seed and defeated no.-5 Marquette in the opening round for their fourth all-time win in the tournament. In the 2017-18 season, the Racers were 26-6 and won the OVC regular season championship at 16-2.
A big part of the tournament run was Ja Morant. Nichols was instrumental in bringing him to campus. Morant was a consensus All-America selection who went on to be the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2020. At Murray State, Nichols also coached OVC Player of the Year and Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention selection Jonathan Stark, 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,” Morant said. “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.”
Just like Darris, Shane was an outstanding player at Radford High School where he scored over 1,800 points and earned all-state honors as a junior and senior.
He was listed as a Top 15 player in the state of Virginia and is Radford’s second all-time leading scorer and was a three-time All-District and All-Region selection.
Prior to Murray State, Nichols was an assistant coach at Hofstra for two seasons that included a 20-win 2014-15 campaign. He was at Niagara in 2012-13, and was an assistant coach at his alma mater, Wofford, under current Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young.
As a player at Wofford, he scored 1,482 points in his career and was a multiple All-Southern Conference selection.
