Nicholls succeeds in the classroom with huge academic successes

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The 2017-18 athletic year was one of the most successful 12-month stretches in the history of the Nicholls State University athletic department.


The university won championships, excelled in Southland Conference play and set a new standard of excellence for the future.

But while the championship cupboard got fuller with each season that passed, the Colonels also fulfilled the other half of the student-athlete equation.

They excelled in the classroom, as well.


Nicholls State University totaled 65 student-athletes on the 2018 Southland Conference Commissioner’s Spring Honor Roll, according to figures released by the league office last week.

The Colonels had nine student-athletes finish with a 4.0 GPA in the spring semester and several teams had multiple athletes make the list.

“We are thrilled to acknowledge the great academic work of so many Southland Conference student-athletes during the spring semester,” Southland Conference Commissioner Tom Burnett said. “It’s simply remarkable to see these hard-working students, with so many other things they’re involved with, continue to improve in the classroom on their way to graduation.”


Nicholls softball was dominant in the classroom in the spring semester.

Nineteen of the team’s 25 players made Spring Honor Roll and three players — Skylar Hamilton, Emma Holland and Kelsey Miller — finished with 4.0 GPA’s. Seven of the 19 softball Honor Roll members also had a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

The accomplishments of that team are made more impressive because the team competes in the spring, so several players had to miss classroom time for road trips and games. Nicholls softball won the Southland Conference Regular Season Championship in 2018 and finished two wins away from the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth with a runner-up finish at the Southland Conference Tournament.


The team also was predominantly led by underclassmen, so the athletic and academic success should carry into the 2018-19 year, as well.

Nicholls baseball shined, as well.

The Colonels’ baseball team had 13 student-athletes on the list, despite also being in season in the spring semester, like the softball team.


Two baseball players had 3.8 GPA’s, led by Austin Bollinger and Dane Simon.

Colonels coach Seth Thibodeaux said finding academic successes is important to he and his staff. When Thibodeaux took over the Colonels’ baseball team, they were tangled in APR struggles and in danger of losing scholarships or postseason eligibility because of the problems.

But under Thibodeaux, the team has cleaned up that act and has above the threshold for several-straight years.


“That’s important to us — that our men are taking care of their responsibilities, both on and off the field,” Thibodeaux said in the past when asked about the APR successes. “Being a student-athlete is a privilege and I think our guys understand that.”

Both Nicholls tennis teams succeeded in the classroom with both the men’s and women’s team landing six student-athletes each on the Honor Roll list. Three men — Alvaro Barranco Vilatella, Nestor Giribet Lopez and Tobias Lentz earned 4.0’s, while Stephanie Bernett had a 4.0 in graduate school.

The Nicholls women’s tennis team has just six players on its roster, so they mark the only team on campus to have 100 percent of its roster on Honor Roll.


Men’s golf had five players on the list, while men and women’s basketball had three and four recipients, respectively.

Women’s basketball player Airi Hamilton had a 4.0.

The Southland Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll is given to participants in all sports sponsored by the league and its member institutions. Recipients maintained a 3.0 GPA and had to have been eligible to compete in a conference sport during the academic year in which the nomination occurs.


The spring semester honor roll is comprised of competitors from baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s golf, softball, men’s and women’s tennis and men’s and women’s track.

REBOWE NAMED LSWA COACH OF THE YEAR

Nicholls State University football coach Tim Rebowe keeps piling on successes to the rebuilt Colonels’ football team.

Reboot was named the 2017 Coach of the Year, as issued by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA) last week.


The honor was the first of Rebowe’s career and it comes after his most successful season as a head coach — a year in which he guided the Colonels to an 8-3 record, which included a spot in the FCS Playoffs.

Rebowe was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award, which goes annually to the top FCS coach. He placed ninth. It was the first time Nicholls made the playoffs since 2005.

Megan Landry


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