Nichols College President Glenn Sulmasy and Director of Athletics Eric Gobiel have announced the hiring of Brock Erickson as the 21st men’s basketball head coach in program history.
Erickson most recently worked at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he spent the 2020-21 campaign as an assistant coach. Erickson was both the recruiting coordinator and shooting development coach under UIC head coach Luke Yaklich, and the Flames recorded the highest GPA in program history with Erickson monitoring the student-athletes’ academic progress.
“I would like to thank President Sulmasy and Athletic Director Eric Gobiel for this opportunity,” said Erickson. “I’m so excited to be part of the Nichols College family. There is a rich tradition of winning at Nichols College and I can’t wait to continue that tradition.”
Prior to his arrival at UIC, Erickson spent two seasons as the Associate Head Coach at Bryant University under Jared Grasso, the 2020-21 United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) District 1 Coach of the Year. In Erickson’s second year with the Bulldogs in 2019-20, he helped coach freshman Michael Green III to Northeast Conference (NEC) Rookie of the Year honors, while guiding two additional student-athletes to All-NEC accolades. Benson Lin joined Green on the NEC All-Rookie Team and Adam Grant was tabbed as a Second Team All-NEC selection.
The Bulldogs controlled the glass in 2019-20, finishing the season 11th nationally in rebounds per game (40.28). Erickson’s first season saw Grant earn National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District honors in addition to being one of three Bulldogs to garner All-NEC recognition. Off the court, the Bulldogs posted the highest GPA in program history while Erickson was on staff.
“It is just terrific to have coach Erickson back in Massachusetts leading our highly-regarded basketball program,” said Sulmasy. “His style of play fits in extremely well with the Nichols ethos – nimble and on- the-move. Brock is an outstanding young man who will serve as a great role model for our incredible scholar-athletes.”
Erickson joined Bryant after serving as an assistant at Kent State during the 2017-18 season. The Golden Flashes advanced to the Mid-American Conference semifinals and picked up wins on the season over NCAA Second Round team Buffalo and Pac-12 member Oregon State. The Kent State backcourt was directed byJalen Avery, the nation’s top player in assist-to-turnover ratio (5.04) that year.
Erickson spent four years (2013-17) on the staff at Iona, a tenure that featured four postseason bids. The Gales won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championship in each of Erickson’s final two seasons to advance to the NCAA Tournament while earning National Invitational Tournament (NIT) bids in Erickson’s first two years. Iona won 22 games in each of Erickson’s final two seasons, earning a No. 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2017 and a No. 13 seed in the 2016 field.
“I am absolutely thrilled to welcome Brock to our Bison family,” said Gobiel. “He was selected from an extremely talented pool of candidates and we are very excited for him to begin his tenure at the helm of our men’s basketball program. Brock brings exceptional coaching and leadership experience from a variety of NCAA programs and divisions, and I am confident he will utilize those past experiences to continue to elevate our program to new levels of success in the coming years.”
Prior to his time at Iona, Erickson served as the head coach at State College of Florida in Bradenton, Fla. In 2012-13, he guided the Manatees to a No. 8 ranking by the Florida College System Activities Association. His team led the nation in scoring that season at 95.1 points per game. SCF captured the 2013 Suncoast Conference Tournament title and qualified for the state tournament for the second time in 15 years.
Erickson’s coaching resume also includes stints as an assistant coach at Monroe College, College of Eastern Utah and City College of New York. All three programs set new benchmarks for wins during his time on the bench.
Erickson played collegiately at the University of Rhode Island before transferring to Assumption College, where he ranks No. 8 in single season free throw pct. (.842 in 1996-97). Erickson graduated from Assumption in 1998 with a degree in business communications.
https://nicholsathletics.com/news/2021/7/15/Erickson_named_MBB_Coach_Nichols_College.aspx
