The Athletics Department at Nicholls State University just announced their newest Athletic Director, former Colonel football player and coach Jonathan Terrell (BA ‘98), as reported by a NSU press release. 

Terell played quarterback and wide receiver for the Colonels from 1993-1996, and he returns to his Alma Mater as its new Athletic Director, aiming to take over the program that has continued to achieve new heights both on and off the field.

Other than his experience as a student athlete, Terrell has more than two decades of proven sales and coaching success, making him the school’s first Black athletic director in Nicholls history.

“I am grateful to Dr. Clune and the committee for giving me the opportunity to work at a place that I love,” Terrell said in a recent statement posted on the school’s website. “I am honored to be able to lead this department and continue the climb. Whether it’s in the classroom, on the field of play or in the community, we will be one team with one goal in mind, winning.”

Terrell rejoins the program while Nicholls is in the midst of historic academic and athletic success:

• This past spring the combined Colonel athletic programs held a school-record 3.31 GPA and 10th year in a row of successful NCAA Academic Progress Rate scores.
• The NSU Football Program has won back-to-back Southland Conference Championships and participated in the NCAA Playoffs three years in a row.
• Nicholls’ Softball team won the 2018 regular season conference championship and played in back-to-back Southland Conference Tournament finals.
• Nicholls’ men’s basketball team won the 2017-2018 regular-season conference championship.
• Nicholls’ womens’ basketball team won the 2018 Southland Conference and participated in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the school’s long athletic history. In 2018, the team was invited to the Women’s Basketball Invitational postseason tournament.

Over the past decade, due to its successful sports teams, Colonel Athletics have been growing largely in popularity with season ticket sales on the continual rise. In addition to increased sales, the athletic department received the largest single gift in Nicholls history to renovate and expand Baker Hall.

“An athletic director doesn’t win a single game,” said Nicholls President Dr. Jay Clune. “You need someone of superior judgment to put the right team of coaches in place to be successful. Jonathan Terrell has that judgment. Going into the search, I was looking for someone of unquestionable integrity and character who could raise money. I couldn’t be happier with our selection.”

“Jonathan Terrell set himself apart early in the process because of his love and passion for Nicholls. He is the right person to keep the momentum we have going and built upon it,” Lindsey McKaskle, interim athletic director and chair of the search committee said.

Terrell had returned to the Colonels once before in 2004 to coach quarterbacks during the 2004 season under coach Darrell Daye. This is about a decade after his time as a quarterback and wide receiver for the 1993-1996 Colonels with head football coach Tim Rebowe.

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