Assistant Coach Kyle Nicholson begins his third season with the IUP baseball program in 2023-34.
IUP made its deepest PSAC Tournament run in over a decade in 2023, while Nicholson worked with a dynamic group of pitchers. Nicholson coached first team all-conference selection Jeremiah Williams, who won six games in 11 appearances with a 2.55 ERA in 2023.Â
Nicholson was part of a big turnaround for IUP in 2022, helping the program improve by 25 victories year over year from 2021.Â
Nicholson joins the Crimson Hawk staff after a two-year stint as the pitching coach at Bethel Park High School. As an assistant coach for the Black Hawks, Nicholson helped a pitching staff that was led by 2021 Trib HSSN Baseball Player of the Year (Eric Chalus) and 2023 Kent State Commitment, Evan Holewinski. Under Nicholson’s assistance, Bethel Park finished 2021 with a 1.62 ERA in 176 innings pitched and won the PIAA 5A State Championship.
Prior to going to Bethel Park, Nicholson was on the staff at Texas A&M for two years as the graduate assistant from 2011-2012. Texas A&M advanced to postseason play each year Nicholson was a part of the coaching staff. He helped guide the Aggies to both the Big 12 conference regular-season and postseason championship titles in 2011 on their way to a College World Series appearance.
As a player, Nicholson made 83 appearances as a pitcher for Texas A&M University from 2004-2007. He went 11-3 with 4 saves and finished with a 2.25 ERA in 2007. He earned All-American status in and was a finalist for National Pitcher of the Year. Nicholson was drafted in the 7th round by the San Francisco Giants in June of 2007. While with the Giants, Nicholson earned the MiLB.com Short-Season Starting Pitcher of the Year and MiLB Most Spectacular Pitcher award for the 2008 season. In 2011 Nicholson retired from baseball and began his coaching career.
Nicholson, a native of College Station, Texas, earned a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M in 2007. He and his wife, Megan, reside in Bethel Park and have two sons, Braedon and Eli, and two daughters, Averie and Lyla.
