Jim Nichols completed his 26th season at the helm of the Ithaca men's track & field program in 2012. He works primarily with the middle distance and distance runners, along with the pole vault and high jump competitors. He is also head coach of the men’s cross country team. Nichols coached the women’s track & field program from 1986 to 1993 and from 1998 to 2000.
Under Nichols the Bombers have won 10 conference indoor (1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93, 2003-04, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12) and 13 conference outdoor championships (1987, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012), including both during the past five seasons. Nichols has earned multiple Empire 8, NYSCTC and Atlantic Region Coach of the Year honors as the only men’s track & field coach in program history. Most recently, he earned Empire 8 Coach of the Year honors for the 2011-12 indoor and outdoor seasons.
In August 2012 he was appointed to serve a three-year term on the NCAA Men's and Women's Track & Field Rules Committee.
Ithaca has placed in the top five at the NYSCTC indoor meet 19 times and has 21 top-five finishes at the state outdoor meet, including first-ever state titles during both seasons in 2000-01. He has also tallied outdoor state victories in 2009 and 2010. For that accomplishment Nichols was selected as the NYSCTC Coach of the Year for each season.
Nichols was selected by USA Track and Field and served on the staff for the 2002 World Cross Country Championships. He was the team leader for the U.S. junior men’s team that competed in Dublin, Ireland, in March of 2002. His duties included serving as the chief facilitator for the athletes, and handling aspects of competition and travel surrounding the event. He also assisted in the selection of the team at the trials.
Nichols has coached his track & field athletes to 50 all-America finishes at Ithaca (23 male and 27 female), including the 1992 national champion in the women’s outdoor 5,000-meter run. Before his arrival at Ithaca, Nichols served for two years as head cross country and track & field coach at Plattsburgh, where he coached the 1986 indoor 800-meter run national champion.
Nichols was an all-American cross country runner at North Central College and a member of that school’s national championship teams in 1978 and 1979. Following his graduation in 1979 he was an assistant track and cross country coach at North Central and later was a graduate assistant for both sports at Indiana University.
The Ithaca men’s cross country team has qualified for the NCAA championships five times during his career.
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