THIBODAUX – During a press conference on Monday, Jonathan Terrell was introduced as the university’s new Director of Athletics.
“When I was a player here, the one thing I always thought about was being a coach here and so when I left and went to Brother Martin and coached there and then Vanderbilt Catholic, and to have an opportunity to come back and coach quarterbacks here I thought that would be it for me and then God had another plan,” says new Nicholls State University Athletic Director Jonathan Terrell.
Jonathan Terrell finds himself in a position he never thought he would be in, after being hired as Athletic Director for the school where he played football in the 1990s and coached quarterbacks before spending time in the high school football ranks.
In a press release from the Nicholls State University athletics department, it says that Terrell takes over an athletic department in the midst of historic success both athletically and academically:
- This past Spring, the Colonel athletic programs combined for a school-record 3.31 GPA and 10th year in a row of successful NCAA Academic Progress Rate scores.
- The Nicholls Football program has won back-to-back Southland Conference Championships and participated in the NCAA Playoffs three years in a row.
- The Nicholls Softball team won the 2018 regular-season conference championship and played in back-to-back Southland Conference Tournament finals.
- The Nicholls men’s basketball team won the 2017-2018 regular-season conference championship.
- The Nicholls women’s basketball team won the 2018 Southland Conference Tournament and participated in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in history. In 2019, the team was invited to the Women’s Basketball Invitational postseason tournament.
When asked about sustaining and improving that success, Terrell says, ” We have got to continue to work on our facilities and grow that, work to continue to have funds, we have got to continue to have good coaches who want to stay and be with the program. When I talk about it (the program) being unique and being a diamond that’s always polished, I talk about the fact that as long as these coaches know where they are and be where their feet are then we can make really good things happen. My whole deal is to continue to let them know that i’m a partner and not just a leader.”
Terrell spoke with WGNO briefly following his press conference to reflect on his new position and his upcoming plans for the fall semester.