Head VMI swimming coach Bill Nicholson has resigned, effective immediately, to take over as the coach at the Waynesboro YMCA 45 minutes north.
Nicholson had a 15-year tenure as the head coach of VMI, making him the second-longest-tenured coach in program history. That includes overseeing the introduction of women’s swimming as a varsity sport in the 2005-2006 season.
While the program has never qualified a swimmer for the NCAA Championships, the VMI men won back-to-back Northeastern Conference titles in 2006 and 2007.
“Coach Nicholson’s contributions to our department and to VMI cannot be overstated,” said VMI athletic director Dr. Dave Diles. “He’s a talented coach, but more importantly he has the personal values and professional characteristics that have made him a great fit at VMI. I’m deeply grateful for his lengthy and substantive contributions to our department.”
In 2016, Nicholson was honored with the VMI Achievement Award in recognition of his long tenure.
Both the men’s and women’s teams finished last at last summer’s CCSA Championship – for the women that’s 10th out of 10 teams, and for the men that’s 8th out of 8 teams. The women also finished 15th out of 19 teams at the ECAC Championships and the men were 13th out of 21 teams.
After spending the last 10 seasons in the purpose-built swimming (and more lately beach volleyball) CCSA, all of the school’s athletics teams will transfer to the America East Conference next season. That means a new conference for both the women and men – the America East will begin sponsoring a 4-team men’s championship next season.
To the author, the America East will be sponsoring men’s swimming next season due to VMI joining the conference. UMBC is also bringing their men’s team back to the America East so the men’s championship will have 4 teams (Binghamton, Maine, UMBC, and VMI).