ASSISTANT COACH: Georgetown Adds Kevin Nickelberry from LSU, Howard

Georgetown is expected to make an announcement today from the Thompson Athletics Center. It has been a while since the statements from Patrick Ewing and the Director of Athletics in early March. The faithful fans of the Georgetown Hoyas have been patiently waiting for news that might be considered “necessary changes” in this “ever evolving landscape.” Additions to Patrick Ewing’s coaching staff certainly seem to qualify.

Georgetown is reportedly hiring Kevin Nickelberry, formerly an assistant at LSU (2019-2022) and head coach at Howard (2010-2019). Nickelberry would be taking an assistant slot reportedly vacated by Robert Kirby.

Most recently, Kevin Nickelberry was Interim Head Coach at Louisiana State University. The concern is that LSU received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA in early March. According to The Washington Post, Nickelberry’s “name hadn’t been mentioned in the report, but coach Will Wade and assistant Bill Armstrong had both been major figures in it” and were fired. A few people familiar with Nickelberry’s time at Howard attest to him to running a clean program and believe he was brought into LSU, in a last-ditch effort for Wade’s staff, to help repair their image.

Georgetown played against a Nickelberry-led Howard in non-conference games each year in 2011-2012 and 2016-2018, winning each of them. One would not make a huge assumption to believe that there is a decent relationship between Nickelberry and the Thompsons.

On Tuesday, Hoya Twitter caught wind of a rumor, shared in the tweet below, that linked Georgetown to Nickelberry and a few current players at LSU.

Georgetown had recruited Brandon Murray (6’5”, F) and big man Efton Reid (7 ft) previously. Alex Fudge is a 6’8” forward from Jacksonville, with a 7-foot wingspan. An addition of one or more of those three—or other Nickelberry connected players—would certainly help infuse talent.

Here is a recent LSU press release regarding Nickelberry:

Kevin Nickelberry Named To ABIS Assistant Coach Watch List

BATON ROUGE – LSU’s interim head coach Kevin Nickelberry, who has been a part of the basketball program for three seasons, was named to a Watch List for assistant coaches Tuesday by The Advancement of Blacks in Sports (ABIS).

The group listed the assistant coaches who are deserving and prepared to take the next step in their coaching careers. The ABIS Coaches Watch Lists are shared annually with Athletic Administrators and Executive Search Firms during the hiring cycle.

Coaches were selected by the ABIS Men’s and Women’s Basketball Watch List committees. The ABIS also selects a women’s list of assistant coaches and a list of top men’s and women’s mid-major coaches.

Nickelberry is one of three coaches from the Southeastern Conference on the national list.

The 57-year-old coach arrived in LSU prior to the 2019-20 season as the Assistant to the Head Coach and for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons has served as a part of the on-floor coaching staff for the Tigers.

He has been part of an LSU team that averaged 20 wins over the last three seasons and went to the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

Nickelberry previously served as the head coach at Howard University (2010-19), Hampton (2006-09) and the Columbia Union women’s team (1991-94). He also served as an assistant coach at Howard, Monmouth, Holy Cross, Charlotte and Clemson before being named head coach at Hampton.

During his previous years as an assistant coach, Nickelberry was named by Basketball Times, The Hoops Scoop and Rivals.com as one of the top assistants in the country.

Nickelberry was born in Washington, D.C. and played at Virginia Wesleyan University where he graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications.

Nickelberry and the LSU Tigers will take part in the 2022 NCAA Basketball Tournament starting on Friday as No. 6 Midwest seed LSU will take on No. 11 Iowa State at 6:20 p.m. CT at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

UPDATE: it’s official (press release)