<p>INDIANAPOLIS</p>
<p>Squeezed together on a shelf inside the University of Indianapolis golf office are trophies, plaques and medals promoting various accomplishments.</p>
<p>Brent Nicoson pays them little mind. He prefers to look ahead rather than behind, which speaks volumes about the Greyhounds’ coach and the program he leads.</p>
<p>In the past four years alone, Nicoson, a Greenwood resident, has led the UIndy women’s team to two Division II national championships as well as second- and third-place finishes.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
<p>UIndy no longer aspires for the top of the leaderboard. It is the top of the leaderboard.</p>
<p>“It’s the feeling that you hate to lose, and that you’re going to do things the right way,” said Nicoson, 46. “When we took over the program, some of the players didn’t believe they could beat big programs across the country. I credit that first (women’s) group in 2011-12; they turned their mindset really quick.</p>
<p>“They started winning immediately and it became a big snowball. Now the young ladies I have don’t want that to end. They want to keep this tradition going.”</p>
<p>Tradition and the coach’s family name are one in the same.</p>
<p>The grandson of former Indiana Central University men’s basketball coach Angus Nicoson, Brent reports to work every day to a campus that prominently displays his surname.</p>
<p>Brent was 11 years old when his grandfather passed away in 1982. Four years later, ICU changed its name to the University of Indianapolis, with Brent becoming a proud graduate in 1994.</p>
<p>Coaching different sports in altogether different generations, Angus and Brent have more in common than their last name.</p>
<p>Dave Ancelet, a 1975 Cathedral graduate who played his first season and a half of basketball for Angus Nicoson at ICU before the legendary coach retired due to health reasons, eventually become baseball and boys basketball coach at Beech Grove High School.</p>
<p>One of the players Ancelet coached in both sports is Brent Nicoson. The two men remain close friends today.</p>
<p>Asked if he’s surprised the UIndy golf programs are flourishing under Nicoson’s leadership, Ancelet, now 61 and retired, doesn’t hesitate.</p>
<p>“The answer would be no. Brent’s got intangibles just like his grandfather,” he said. “Brent just happens to know what buttons to push at the right time. He absorbs everything you say, and it’s always the team first and him second.”</p>
<p>Ancelet laughs remembering the championship game of a 1990 baseball sectional in which Beech Grove was trying to defeat host Warren Central.</p>
<p>Leaving the dugout to converse with his shortstop, second baseman and center fielder, Ancelet walked onto the field and past the pitcher’s mound. Nicoson, a senior and the Hornets’ starting pitcher, shot him a “what are you doing out here?” glare Ancelet can still see today.</p>
<p>That Beech Grove squad advanced to the Richmond semistate, losing to Wes-Del. It capped the third time in four years the Hornets qualified for semistate, and the program hasn’t made it that deep in the postseason ever since.</p>
<p>Nicoson’s competitiveness has helped him earn 11 Great Lakes Valley Conference coach of the year honors. Last spring, he led the UIndy men to a program-best fifth-place finish at the DII national tournament.</p>
<p>His UIndy résumé includes coaching 12 conference players of the year, 10 GLVC freshmen of the year and 21 All-Americans.</p>
<p>“If you go back to high school, Brent has always been a competitor,” said Dan Nicoson, the coach’s father. “He’s always been competitive, but sportsmanlike. I think what I see as a parent is his willingness to recruit people who are good golfers, but also good people and good students.”</p>
<p>Nicoson also coaches and often travels with Center Grove senior Erica Shepherd, a Duke verbal commitment who plays a rigorous summer schedule. He’s coached Shepherd since she was 7, and he also recently began instructing Zionsville junior Annabelle Pancake, the fourth-place finisher at the 2017 state finals.</p>
<p>“The thing we stress is everything you do, a teammate is counting on you. Even Erica now, her future Duke teammates are counting on her,” Nicoson said. “Even during the summer, when I’m teaching some of our players who want help individually, we still have team in mind.</p>
<p>“I think that’s one thing that separates our girls from others.”</p>
<p>The Greyhounds’ dominance puts their coach on the radar of Division I programs looking to turn their golf fortunes around. Without getting specific, Nicoson said he has been contacted, but makes it clear he’s not about to mess with happy.</p>
<p>Nicoson and his wife Susan have two children — Ben, a senior at Center Grove and starting point guard on the Trojans basketball squad, and Mia, a seventh-grader. As entrenched as the family is in the community, it might not be until after Mia graduates in 2024 that Nicoson seriously considers leaving UIndy.</p>
<p>“I don’t like change that much. It probably won’t happen until the kids are out of school because we love where we are,” he said. “We have a good thing going, and UIndy is growing. It’s becoming really popular. We have a wait list for housing right now, so the school’s doing what it takes.</p>
<p>“The one thing I try to tell myself every day is I love my players and I care about my players. If they see that, they’re going to give me back what I give them. Even if it’s only a text message here or there, they better know I care about them as a person. If they don’t, I’m failing.”</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="The Nicoson file" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>Brent Nicoson</p>
<p>Age: 46</p>
<p>Born: Indianapolis</p>
<p>Family: Wife Susan; son Ben, 17; daughter Mia, 13</p>
<p>High school: Beech Grove (1990)</p>
<p>College: University of Indianapolis (1994)</p>
<p>Major: Business Administration</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]
