On Aug. 29, DV athletic director Mrs. Nechia Miller hired Coach Brian Nichols to serve as the Varsity baseball coach for Dougherty Valley High School.

Nichols has plenty of experience in both playing baseball and coaching baseball players and has a great wealth of knowledge about the game. He has coached at the high school, college, minor league, and even MLB level.   

“He is very organized. He is very passionate about what he does,” said Miller.

Nichols’ love for baseball started at three years old. He went to El Cerrito High School in El Cerrito, California, and UCLA.

Then, he returned to El Cerrito High as a baseball coach for 14 years. In addition, he coached at Diablo Valley College for three years and Contra Costa College for 7 years.

In the professional world, Nichols coached the Dayton Dragons, a minor league team in the state of Ohio, and the Cincinnati Reds, a Major League Baseball team in Ohio. After all these years of coaching student and professional athletes, Nichols’ main goal for coaching at Dougherty Valley is to teach student athletes how to play the game.

“I don’t have any goals for wins and losses. I am aiming to teach them how to play the game the right way and with intelligence,” said Nichols.

Nichols is very optimistic about his debut in February. He knows the high level to which he enjoys both playing and coaching the game.

Most importantly, he is not concentrating too much on the win-loss record of the season, but is aiming to teach possibly future athletes how to play the game the right way. Looking at the support he has from students and staff members, Nichols is even more sure that he will be a successful coach this season, just like he has been at many other schools and professional teams.

“I have a good group of assistant coaches, and I am sure the players are going to cooperate,” said

Nichols.

After Croker’s hard work for ma