Nicholas Joins Brenau as Director of Volleyball

"We are very fortunate to have someone of Patrick's caliber join our team," Michael Lochstampfor, Vice President of Athletics. "He has coached at all levels, including the national program used to identify potential Olympic volleyball athletes. Patrick's expertise in indoor and beach volleyball will be so beneficial to our program and the university. I look forward to the impact he will make and am excited for our athletes who will benefit from his knowledge and experience."Nicholas said he missed coaching college sports after a lengthy recovery from a serious illness meant he had to quit coaching for a time. He sought a smaller university program and found Brenau a perfect fit. 

"My vision at Brenau is to create a culture and legacy for academic integrity, sustained competitive excellence, and a distinctive student-athlete experience while developing voices of leadership in the indoor and beach volleyball programs," Nicholas said. "Culture is paramount, as it has a significant influence on the overall experience and success of a team. Our commitment will be to pursue excellence every day as we strive to contend for championships with passion and integrity. I want to help our student-athletes become the very best version of themselves in all aspects and take Brenau's Golden Tiger indoor and beach volleyball programs to new heights."

Nicholas most recently coached South Carolina's Stars Carolinas volleyball club and owns PHN Enterprises, LLC, a high-performance training volleyball school, and he has extensive experience coaching at the highest levels. 

Nationally, he was involved in the development of the USA Volleyball High Performance Programs and served as both a head coach and director of national tryouts. The program, which is used to identify and develop potential Olympic-level athletes, includes the USA Women's National B Team, USA 14 & Under Team, USA Youth National Team, and the USA Junior National Team. In addition, he has coached in the Women's Professional League and was a U.S. Naval officer.

Nicholas also spent many years coaching at the high school and collegiate levels, including the men's and women's teams at the U.S. Naval Academy, achieving Top 25 national rankings as head coach of the men's program – the youngest Division I head coach at the time. Also at the Division I level, he coached two NCAA Big Ten Conference programs – Purdue University and Ohio State University – and coached in five NCAA Division 1 tournaments, including designing and implementing offenses for two teams that advanced to the Final Four. 

Additional accomplishments at the collegiate level include rebuilding the Lehigh University women's team, becoming the all-time winningest head coach in the program's history, and building the beach volleyball team at Catawba College in North Carolina. 

"When I arrived at Lehigh, our team was picked for last place. The players not only made the Patriot League Post-Season Championship Tournament, but they also made the NCA tournament," Nicholas said. "We were seven for seven achieving postseason appearances in the Patriot League Championship Tournament, which only the top 4 finishing teams can attend.  At Catawba, with the indoor team, we were able to quickly attract talented top recruits and achieve wins against several perennial top programs that were consistently ranking at the top of the conference and regional rankings."

Nicholas has earned several professional awards, including the Robert L. Lindsay Meritorious Service Award in 2014, as part of his involvement with the North Carolina region team in the USAA High Performance National Championship. He was named the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Coach of the Year in 1988.

A native of South Florida, Nicholas grew up playing a variety of sports, including indoor and beach volleyball. He graduated from George Mason University, where he competed on the team's first Top Ten ranked team and, as an assistant coach, helped the team win two-straight EIVA Conference Championships and earn automatic bids to two NCAA Final Four National Championships. He and his wife, Megan, who was an All-American tennis player at the College of William and Mary, have one son, Logan.