Kevin Nickelberry Hometown: Washington, D.C. Last College: Charlotte Position: Assistant Coach Experience: 15 years Alma Mater: Virginia Wesleyan '86

Kevin Nickelberry is in his third year with the Clemson men's basketball team. He serves as the recruiting coordinator for the Tigers, a task he has handled with tremendous success.

Nickelberry has helped the Tiger program to consecutive top 40 recruiting classes. The 2005-06 class, which consists of signees Julius Powell, K.C. Rivers, and Raymond Sykes, was cited as the 36th-best in the nation by PrepStars. Both Powell and Rivers were ranked among the top 100 incoming freshmen by Hoop Scoop, while Sykes reminds many of a young Sharrod Ford.

Clemson's 2004-05 recruiting class was ranked among the top 25 in the nation by many services, and all five members were ranked among the top 100 players in the nation by various services. Last season, Cliff Hammonds earned ACC All-Rookie honors after a stellar freshman campaign, while Sam Perry and James Mays combined to start 20 games.

Due to his success as an assistant coach, Nickelberry was recognized in 2004 as one of the top 25 recruiters in the nation by rivalshoops.com. This was not the first time his recruiting expertise has been recognized, as Nickelberry has been consistently listed among the top 20 assistant coaches in the nation by various media servicess. Both Basketball Times and Hoop Scoop ranked Nickelberry as one of the top 20 assistant coaches in the country in 2003. "Kevin Nickelberry quietly has built himself into one of college basketball's premier recruiters," said Mike DeCourcy, college basketball writer for the Sporting News.

Prior to joining Oliver Purnell's staff at Clemson, Nickelberry served as an assistant coach at UNC Charlotte from 2001-2003. He was cited as a big reason for the success of former Clemson assistant coach Bobby Lutz's UNC Charlotte program in recent years, including in 2002 when the team advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

Nickelberry helped the 49ers land consecutive top 20 recruiting classes in both 2002 and 2003. Four of his recruits have had numerous accolades, including Eddie Basden, Vincent Grier, Martin Iti, Curtis Withers. Basden was named the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year in 2003-04 and 2004-05, while also earning the league's Player of the Year honor overall in 2004-05 as well. Basden signed with the NBA's Chicago Bulls in August of 2005.

Withers was named to the Conference USA all-conference first team and was named a third-team All-American by Basketball Times in 2003-04. In 2004-05 he was named first-team Conference USA and has also been a member of USA Basketball the past two summers. Iti, a center, was named to the 2003-04 Conference USA All-Freshman team.

Vincent Grier transferred to Minnesota and helped the Golden Gophers to the NCAA Tournament and was named first-team All-Big Ten in 2004-05.

Prior to joining the 49ers, Nickelberry worked two seasons as an assistant and associate head coach at Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA. While at Holy Cross, he helped the Crusaders to a 22-7 record, which included the best turnaround in school history, a NCAA Tournament appearance, the Patriot League regular season and tournament championships. Nickelberry also helped recruit and develop two conference Rookie of the Year players, two conference Player of the Year selections, three All-Rookie Team performers, four first-team all-conference recipients and two second-team all-conference players.

In one season at Monmouth University in New Jersey, Nickelberry helped recruit the Northeastern Conference Newcomer of the Year and its Player of the Year. He spent the previous three years as an assistant coach at Howard University, where he helped assemble teams that featured two MEAC Newcomer of the Year players and five players who earned all-rookie and/or all-league honors in their careers.

Nickelberry began his coaching career at NAIA Columbia Union College in Maryland where he served as both assistant men's basketball coach and head women's basketball coach. In his only season with the men's program, Columbia Union made its first ever appearance in the NAIA Tournament. In his three seasons as head coach of the women's team, Nickelberry became the school's winningest coach, and posted the school's highest single season win total.

Prior to beginning his coaching career, Nickelberry was involved in many successful entrepreneur ventures. He was the president of two public relation firms and founded an at-risk youth non-profit organization in the Washington, DC area.

Nickelberry is a graduate of Virginia Wesleyan College in Norforlk, VA. He earned a BS degree in communications in 1986. Nickelberry and his wife, the former Mamie Cohen, are the proud parents of two sons, Kyan (born Nov. 6, 2002) and Kelby (born July 21, 2004).^TMTM

The Nickelberry Family