When Dan Nichols took on the task of Director of Club Sports at GCU in 2014, he had no floor and no ceiling; he was truly starting from scratch a concept he had to learn about “on the fly”. A dozen years and a Ph.D. later, he oversees what has grown into the largest club sports department of any university in the nation — a program he has spent nearly two decades at GCU helping to build. Nichols first joined the university in 2008 as Assistant Athletic Director, a role that placed him at the center of GCU’s historic transition from NAIA to NCAA Division I and included work with the Learfield Cup standings that measure the overall success of NCAA athletic programs.
Long before his administrative career, Nichols built an extensive résumé as a basketball coach. After beginning as an assistant at California Baptist University in Riverside, he spent a combined 25 years (over two stints) as the head men’s basketball coach at South Mountain Community College — the longest tenure of any coach in the program’s history — winning three Region I titles, making five Region I Championship appearances, and earning three trips to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament. A three-time NJCAA District Coach of the Year and two-time ACCAC Coach of the Year, Nichols also served a year as the GCU NCAA Men’s Basketball Head Coach in 2007-08 before moving into athletic administration. He’s even brought his athletic and basketball expertise to the microphones as he provided expert color commentary to the GCU Men’s Basketball radio broadcasts for _ years. Before he even graced the college coaching sidelines, Nichols was a force as a head varsity football coach and basketball coach at Maryvale High School (where he is an alumnus) and Central High School in the Phoenix area.
Nichols has pursued his education with the same commitment he brought to the bench. He earned a Master’s Degree in Human Relations from Northern Arizona University and a Graduate Certificate in Professional Counseling from Ottawa University, and in 2022, completed his Doctor of Philosophy in Performance Psychology from GCU — a credential that informs his approach to athlete and student development every day. He also holds a license as an Associate Counselor through the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners.
Nichols – who grew up in Syracuse, New York - has two grown daughters, Rachel and Danni, and has three grandchildren.
