Guest: Darris Nichols, Radford Head Coach

Radford head coach Darris Nichols joins the Basketball Podcast to share insights on invisible ingredients, roleplaying, and coaching responses.

Darris Nichols enters his second season as the Radford head basketball coach in 2023-24. The native son of Radford, Va. was named the eighth head coach in program history on April 21, 2021. Nichols' plan to return the Highlanders to their winning ways came to fruition in just his second season at the helm, leading the program to a 21-15 overall record, including a 12-6 mark in Big South play, during the 2022-23 campaign. Radford came one point away from playing in the conference championship, but still earned a bid to the College Basketball Invitational.

With wins over Tarleton State and San Jose State in the CBI, the Highlanders won multiple postseason contests in the same season for the first time in program history.

Nichols began his coaching career at his alma mater West Virginia as a graduate assistant in 2010. He was named an assistant at Northern Kentucky in 2011 and spent two seasons with the team before spending a season each with Wofford and Louisiana Tech. He joined the coaching staff at Florida in 2015 as an assistant on former Louisiana Tech head coach Mike White’s staff. Nichols was named the head coach at Radford in April 2021. In year two, Radford went 21-15, finishing tied for second in the Big South Conference and advanced to post-season play.

Breakdown

1:00 - Introduction

3:00 - Accumulate Talent

6:00 - Unique Teaching

11:00 - Coaching Responses

15:00 - Ball Screen Continuity

20:00 - Importance of Invisible Ingredients

22:00 - Unseen Hours

24:00 - Play Different Ways

26:30 - Types of Concept

29:00 - Defensive System and Philosophy

31:00 - Teaching Points