Western Michigan University Athletics

Hunter Nichols joined the Western Michigan football program as a defensive line graduate assistant in the summer of 2018. Prior to WMU, he was a defensive quality control assistant at Eastern Kentucky.
 
Nichols spent one season as the head football coach and defensive coordinator for the Prague Lions in the European Football League in 2017. He led Prague to a No. 3 national ranking and a playoff spot. The team ranked third nationally in scoring defense (16 points per game) and third in total defense.
 
Prior to coaching overseas, Nichols was the defensive end coach at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo., during the 2016 season. He coached a defensive end that earned all-conference honors and ranked second in the league in sacks.
 
Nichols was a graduate assistant defensive line coach at McKendree University in Lebanon, Ill., from July 2014 to July 2016. Nichols' defensive unit led the conference and ranked second in Division II for team sacks. During this time he coached seven all-conference selections and one All-American. Among those players was Lucky Baar who was the GLVC Defensive Player of the Year and led the nation in sacks in 2014. Baar also broke the career NCAA sack record with 46.5 total sacks. While at McKendree, Nichols was responsible for recruiting Illinois and Mississippi junior colleges.
 
Nichols began his coaching career as a student assistant at the University of Southern Mississippi from May 2013 to July 2014. He earned a bachelor’s of science degree in sport coaching from Southern Miss in May 2014 and a master’s of arts in education from McKendree in May of 2016.