Matt Nicholson welcomed back as Men’s Hockey Associate Head Coach

Nicholson will begin his second stint at Robert Morris while being behind the bench for six years Photo credit: RMU Athletics

Michael Deemer
June 7, 2022

The Robert Morris announced Tuesday that former assistant and associate head coach of the Colonials Matt Nicholson would return behind the bench in Moon Township.

Nicholson spent six years with the Colonials from 2009 to 2015 before becoming an assistant coach at Niagara from 2016 to 2021. He was the assistant coach at Mercyhurst last season.

Last season, Nicholson was in charge of the power play for the Lakers, helping the Lakers double their win total from the previous year and ranked 19th in all DI in PP% at 22.2.

“I’m thrilled that Matt Nicholson has agreed to return to RMU,” head coach Derek Schooley said in a press release by the university. “[He] was instrumental in recruiting some of the all-time greats in program history, and he has an outstanding eye for talent. That’s an aspect that will be very important as we embark on the recruiting trail. Matt was part of a special era of RMU hockey, and we’re looking forward to working together to relaunch the program.”

Nicholson helped RMU record a 108-88-30 (.544) during his six years behind the bench, including earning their first automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2014 and the Atlantic Hockey regular-season crown the following season.

This is just another major piece of a complex puzzle for Coach Schooley to rebuild the program up from where it was before.