Dave Nichol is in his fourth season on Washington State’s staff after being named the Cougars outside receivers coach in Dec., 2015, reuniting with Head Coach Mike Leach. At the start of 2017 fall camp Nichol moved from coaching outside receivers to working with the insider receivers.
Last season, the Cougar inside receivers combined for 124 receptions for 1,361 yards and eight touchdowns. Nichol saw four of his players record 20+ receptions and Jamire Calvin led the way with 42 catches for 497 yards while Renard Bell paced the group with five touchdown grabs. Redshirt-freshman Travell Harris caught 27 passes in his first season seeing game action and earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention as a kick returner after averaging a Pac-12 best 27.6 yards-per-return, sixth-best in the country.
In 2017, WSU’s inside receviers combined for 135 receptions, 1,444 yards and nine touchdowns. Junior Kyle Sweet was the only upper classman as the unit returns in tact for the 2018 seasons. Redshirt-freshman Renard Bell was a Pac-12 All-Freshman First Team selected while treu freshman Jamire Calvin earned second-team accolades.
In 2016, the Cougar outside receivers combined for 203 receptions for 2,032 yards and 21 touchdowns, led by senior Gabe Marks, who repeated as an All-Pac-12 First Team performer. Marks also became the Pac-12 career leader in receptions, finishing with 316 and 37 touchdowns, second all-time in conference history.
Nichol is no stranger to a Mike Leach-coached team, having spent three seasons (2003-05) as an offensive line assistant at Texas Tech under the current Cougar head coach. Prior to WSU, Nichol served as the offensive coordinator at East Carolina in 2015.
Nichol has coached on staffs that have reached 11 bowl games since 2000. In 2015 he was elevated to East Carolina’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach after serving the previous three seasons as the Pirates’ outside receivers coach. While at ECU, Nichol played a vital role in guiding an offense that finished third nationally in passing and fifth in total offense during the 2014 season. The Pirate offense established successive single-season school records for passing yards and total offense, and combined he was part of 70 individual or team single-game, single-season and career offensive standards that were tied or set from 2012-14.
Prior to East Carolina, Nichol spent five seasons on the staff at Arizona. He began as a graduate assistant in 2007, focusing on the offensive line, he was promoted to outside receivers coach after one season and added the insider receivers the following year. With Nichol on staff, the Wildcats saw their offense increase 130 yards per game over the previous offensive system as Arizona reached three-straight bowl games. His final season in Tucson the Wildcat offense moved from 10th to 3rd in passing nationally, ending the 2011 season averaging 370.8 ypg.
Nichol began his coaching career as a student coach at his alma mater Texas Tech following his playing career as a wide receiver. He followed that with a year at Cisco (Texas) Junior College, three years back at Texas Tech as an offensive assistant, and a year at Baylor (2006) as a staff assistant.
Nichol, 39, earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise sports sciences from Texas Tech in 1999 and followed with a master’s in interdisciplinary studies from the same institution three years later.
A native of Chicago, Ill., Nichol graduated from Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas (Texas) before enrolling at Texas Tech.
