There’s a new coach in town for the La Salle Explorers.
Radford Highlanders head coach Darris Nichols is expected to replace current coach Fran Dunphy in Philadelphia, per Jeff Goodman of Field of 68. Dunphy is expected to retire at the end of the season.
Darris Nichols Expected To Become New Head Coach at La Salle, Replacing Fran Dunphy
Nichols comes into Philadelphia with a long line of coaching experience. His career started as a graduate assistant at West Virginia in 2010-2011 before slowly working his way up the ranks as an assistant at Northern Kentucky, Wofford, Louisiana Tech, and Florida.
In 2021, he was hired as Radford’s head coach and immediately led them to an 11-18 record and 7-9 record in the Big South, good for a tie for third in the North Division.
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In the three years since, Radford has won 21, 16 and 19 games overall and finished tied second in the conference in 2022-2023.
The Highlanders were invited to the College Basketball Invitational, where they defeated Tarleton State and San Jose State on their way to a semifinal loss. The Highlanders ended this season with a Big South tournament semifinal loss to No. 1 High Point.
La Salle looks to Nichols for immediate improvement. The Explorers finished the season with a 5-13 record in Atlantic 10 conference play, including losing eight games in a row.
It’ll be big shoes for Nichols to fill. Dunphy is known as “Mr. Big 5” due to his record for most wins (619) by a coach in Philadelphia Big 5 history, coaching three of the six-member schools in the city series.
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In three seasons at La Salle, Dunphy won 15, 16, and 13 games, but the team never reached the postseason. They hope to change their fortunes this week in the Atlantic 10 tournament, where they kick off play Wednesday, March 12, as a No. 14 seed against No. 11 UMass.
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