Miami football hires FSU alum Derek Nicholson as LB coach from Cincinnati
The Miami football program is hiring former Florida State player Derek Nicholson as linebackers coach from Cincinnati as first reported by Matt Zenitz of On3. Similar to his new boss, defensive coordinator Lance Guidry, Nicholson joins the Miami staff after a short stint with the Bearcats. Guidry left Tulane after three weeks.
Nicholson followed Cincinnati head coach Scott Satterfield from Louisville during the offseason after three seasons on the Cardinals staff. The hiring of Nicholson was necessitated after Charlie Strong resigned from the Miami football staff as a result of getting passed over as the defensive coordinator.
Nicholson began his coaching career in 2012 as the LBs coach at Akron under Terry Bowden. After one season at Akron Nicholson was hired as the outside LB and defensive ends coach at Louisville in 2014. Nicholson left Louisville for the 2015 season to become the defensive line coach at Alcorn State.
Nicholson gained a small measure of stability as an assistant at Southern Miss from 2016 through 2019. At Southern Miss Nicholson coached the DL in 2016 and 2017 and was the Co-DC and LB coach in 2018 and 2019. Satterfield hired Nicholson as the inside LB coach at Louisville in 2020 where he remained through this season.
SOURCE: Miami is expected to hire Cincinnati ILB coach Derek Nicholson as a linebackers coach. The 36-year-old former FSU star had spent the previous three seasons at Louisville. @Mzenitz first reported the hire.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) February 14, 2023
Nicholson led Florida State with 99 tackles in 2007 and 81 in 2008. In two seasons as a key player for Florida State Nicholson had 23 TFLs, 1.5 sacks, four pass breakups, two fumble recoveries that were both returned for touchdowns and two forced fumbles. The LBs Nicholson has coached have been very productive.
Momo Sanogo earned All-ACC in 2022 for Louisville with 89 tackles, 9.5 TFL and 4.5 sacks. Monty Montgomery had 70 tackles, 11 TFLs, six sacks and four forced fumbles for the Cardinals in 2022. Montgomery and Sanogo helped Louisville lead the nation with 50 sacks in 2022 and finished third with 30 forced turnovers.
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Nicholson comes from an exceptionally athletic family. Nicholson’s father A.J. played for the Cincinnati Bengals, his father Darrell played for the New York Giants and his wife Onnie played soccer at Florida State and on the U.S. National team. Nicholson graduated in three years from FSU with a Sports Management degree.