Bio

Phil Nickel was named head volleyball coach at Dallas College Eastfield on September 6, 2022.

Entering the 2024 season, Nickel owns a 43-19 record at Eastfield.

Nickel was named the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Coach of the Year in 2023 after guiding the Harvester Bees to a 35-0 record and national championship in his second year with the program. He tutored three First Team All-Americans and one Second Team All-American in the year Eastfield became the first NJCAA Division III volleyball program to go unbeaten and win the title. The Harvester Bees dropped only six sets during the season, winning the Dallas Athletic Conference regular season title and the NJCAA Division III South District championship before capturing the national crown with a 3-0 victory over Century College in the title match. Eastfield registered 29 sweeps in the season. 

In his first year with the Harvester Bees in 2022, after coming on board a month into the season, Nickel's team won eight matches. His team won the first two matches he was on the sidelines, both by three-set sweeps. His team posted five sweeps, including the final regular season conference match. 

Nickel held the role as head coach and recruiting coordinator at Drive Nation Volleyball Club in Irving, Texas from 2021-22. Prior to his time with Drive Nation, Nickel coached Houston Juniors Volleyball Club from 2019-21, following a five-year stint as the director of Fort Bend Fire/Club Catalyst Volleyball in the Houston area.

From 2008-14, Nickel was the head coach at Wayne State University, an NCAA Division II school in Detroit. He guided the Warriors to a 94-78 record and five straight trips to the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament in his six seasons. There, he coached two All-Americans and seven all-region selections.

Nickel was the lead assistant coach at the University of Houston from 2002-08. Prior to that, he was the lead assistant coach at Illinois State University from 2000-02. Before his time in Normal, Illinois, where the Redbirds were among the nation’s leaders in attendance, he served two seasons as an assistant coach at Wright State University.

Before moving on to the NCAA Division I level, Nickel was the head coach at Thomas More College, an NCAA Division III institution in Crestview, Kentucky from 1996-98. His 1997 Saints team advanced to the second round of the NCAA DIII Tournament, and maintained the 15^th highest attendance in the nation.

Nickel also coached club volleyball at Houston Junior Volleyball Club in 2006 and 2008. He was the head coach of the Texas Elite Volleyball Club in 2003. From 2001-02, he served as the assistant club director and head coach of Illinois Junior Volleyball Club in Bloomington, Illinois.

He has served on the NCAA Division II Midwest Region Advisory Committee, while also holding roles on the American Volleyball Coaches Association's Assistant Coaches Committee and as co-Chair of the Professional Development Sub-Committee. Nickel is a member of the AVCA. He's also served as a volunteer coach and run clinics in Detroit and Birmingham, Michigan, and Fort Bend County in the Greater Houston area.

Nickel earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 1995. He played for Cincinnati's men's club volleyball program.