Radford’s Darris Nichols takes job at La Salle

La Salle spent recent weeks hunting for their next head coach after Fran Dunphy announced his retirement and they’ve gotten their man, bringing aboard Radford head coach Darris Nichols. Dunphy went 44-54 with the Explorers and now hands the reins over to a young coach on the rise.

Nichols was born and raised in Radford before playing point guard for four seasons at West Virginia. He was later a grad assistant under Bob Huggins before beginning his coaching career in earnest at several other schools. Nichols’ most extensive work came as an assistant under Mike White, first at Louisiana Tech before a six-year stint in the SEC with Florida.

In 2021, Nichols was hired to return to his hometown as Radford’s new head coach, succeeding Mike Jones who had had decent success with the Highlanders. Nichols led the program to 21 wins and a CBI bid in his second season and is a fresh off another 20-win campaign in year four.

After winning just under 52% of his games, he accepts a major challenge at La Salle, inheriting a program with much less resources than most of the other teams in the A-10. The Explorers haven’t finished above .500 in league play since 2013 when they had a magical run to the Sweet Sixteen.

Regardless, Nichols takes a nice step forward from the Big South to the A-10 with hopes of turning things around in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Radford loses their head coach for the second time this decade to a more prominent job, leaving the Highlanders in a head coaching search. Nichols was a sensible hire four seasons ago and it won’t be a surprise to see another prominent assistant getting a look here.

Time will tell if this becomes a good move for Nichols and his career. He’s still just 38 years old and had been mostly successful with Radford but will definitely have more pressure on him in the A-10. La Salle gets a young coach on the rise with a chip on his shoulder and we’ll have to see if this hire brings noticeable change for the Explorers in the future.