Karin Nicholls joined Tennessee State University as an assistant women’s basketball coach in the summer of 2026, bringing more than three decades of coaching experience and a decorated playing career to Candice Dupree’s staff.
Nicholls has accumulated 34 years of coaching experience at the NCAA Division I and Division II levels, including 10 seasons as a collegiate head coach. She compiled a 111-161 career record while leading programs at Truman State, Texas Rio Grande Valley and Mercyhurst. Her most successful collegiate stint came at Truman State, where she posted a 71-64 record over five seasons, highlighted by a 22-win campaign in 1998-99.
Prior to joining Tennessee State, Nicholls served as head girls basketball coach at Windsor High School in Colorado. During her four-year tenure, Windsor reached the state championship game in each of her first three seasons, and she was named Colorado 4A Coach of the Year in 2022. Nicholls is also the founder and owner of Colorado Soar Basketball, one of the state’s premier girls basketball development programs, which fields teams competing at the local, regional and national levels.
As a student-athlete at Bradley University, Nicholls established herself as one of the most accomplished players in program history. A four-year standout, she scored 1,461 career points and collected 726 rebounds, ranking among the program’s all-time leaders in both categories. She earned All-Gateway Conference honors three times and was named the league’s Newcomer of the Year in 1987. Nicholls helped lead Bradley to the first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history and was recognized as the university’s Athlete of the Year in 1990.
Her accomplishments have earned numerous honors, including induction into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2021.
A native of Illinois, Nicholls earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication with a minor in psychology from Bradley University and later received a master’s degree in sports administration and management from the University of Illinois.
