Mike Nicholson

Now in his seventh year at the helm of the Raiders, Head Coach Mike Nicholson has continued the Raiders' winning tradition and moved SCC into the top tier of Florida community college baseball programs.

Nicholson's Raiders have earned multiple trips to the FCCAA Tournament, including a state championship and JUCO World Series appearance in 2003. He has also garnered awards as FCCAA State Coach of the Year, NJCAA Gulf District Coach of the Year and Diamond/ABCA Region Coach of the Year.

From the 2006 squad, two of Nicholson's players signed professional contracts, six moved on to Division I schools, two to a Division II school and one to an NAIA programs.

Nicholson, a native of North Carolina, came to SCC after a highly successful tenure as head coach of Clarkson University. At Clarkson, Nicholson lead the Golden Knights to a number of honors: top 25 national ranking, top five state ranking, ECAC Conference Champions and a university record for wins in a season. Nicholson's players also garnered many awards, including one All-American, one GTE Academic All-American, State Player of the Year, ECAC tournament MVP and Conference Rookie of the Year. In addition, seven players were named to the Conference All-Star squad. Nicholson capped off his tenure at Clarkson by being named Conference Coach of the Year.

Prior to coaching at Clarkson, Nicholson was a scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was also an assistant coach at NCAA Division I Virginia Tech for seven years and assistant coach at Wingate University for two years. While at Virginia Tech, Nicholson helped coach the Hokies to a number of honors, including three All-American players, three Academic All-American players, 31 All-Conference performers and three State Player of the Year winners. Five players were also chosen for USA teams in International competition and 21 players signed professional baseball contracts (including MLB All-Star Mike Williams, Brad Clontz and George Canale). Nicholson's two recruiting classes at Wingate earned numerous honors, including six All-Conference players, one Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year, one Conference Freshman of the Year and four athletes who signed professional baseball contracts.

As an athlete, Nicholson was part of four consecutive conference championship teams at Wingate University and three tournament championship teams. Nicholson was named Freshman Athlete of the Year in 1981 and set several school pitching records. A shoulder injury during college changed his professional goals, but gave him an early start on his coaching career in American Legion baseball (Post 23 in Gastonia, N.C. and Post 54 in Kings Mountain, N.C.). Nicholson earned his B.S. in Parks and Recreation Administration from Wingate in 1984 and his M.S. in Physical Education from Virginia Tech in 1990. Nicholson, his wife Carolyn and their son Keith live in DeLand.