NSU names Thibodeaux new head coach

Nicholls State Athletics Director Rob Bernardi didn’t have to look far to find his new man to lead the Colonels’ baseball program.

With former coach Chip Durham having resigned in June, but the program still moving in the right direction, Bernardi decided Thursday to promote from within and tab Durham’s top assistant, Seth Thibodeaux, to be the team’s next head coach.

Thibodeaux was chosen from a pool of close to 30 applicants who applied for the job, and Bernardi said the coach’s knowledge of the Colonels’ program was a driving force behind his hiring.

“Seth has helped recruit every single player on our baseball team and has played a major role in nearly every aspect of the program,” Bernardi said in a press release issued by Nicholls. “His familiarity with the team and the program was a big factor in choosing him as our head coach.”

For the past three seasons, Thibodeaux has been Durham’s right-hand man, serving as the associate head coach, a position given to the top assistant coach on a staff. As an assistant coach, Thibodeaux’s duties included serving as the team’s hitting coach, recruiting coordinator and infield coach.

Thibodeaux’s hire comes at a time when the Colonels’ baseball program has gradually begun to flourish.

In 2010, Nicholls advanced to their first postseason in 10 years, advancing to the Southland Conference Tournament, and eventually beating the conference’s regular season champion Texas State in the opening round.

The success on the field has also been combined by success in the classroom, as the Colonels will be above the NCAA’s APR threshold of 925 for the first time in school history during Thibodeaux’s inaugural season.

And as the head coach, Thibodeaux said he hopes to continue on the same road as his mentor, Durham, who he said left the program in great shape.

“I’m extremely excited for many reasons,” Thibodeaux said. “I’m very grateful to the university for this opportunity and to Chip for all he did, including helping me become a better coach, and leaving this program in such good standing when he left.”

Prior to joining the Colonels’ program, Thibodeaux served as an assistant coach at Southeastern Louisiana (2006-07) and at Pearl River Community College (2003-05).

But arguably the coach’s top job to date is the work he’s done at Nicholls – sticking to the formula he and Durham thought up when he first joined the program.

A formula he said will continue in his career as head coach.

“When I first got here, Chip and I sat down and put together a plan,” Thibodeaux said. “We were going to focus on improving our recruiting, our academics, and our facilities. We really stuck to those goals, and we’re finally at a point now where we have a really good program. We have the bulk of our position players returning. We had a really good recruiting class for the third season in a row, and we’re very excited about the product we’re going to put on the field next year. With the improvements we’ve made academically, athletically and with our facilities, everything is happening at a good time for this program. We’re all very fortunate for that.”