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Austin Nyquist
Austin Nyquist enters his third season as assistant coach/recruiting coordinator of the Grand Canyon men’s soccer team.
The Lopes have compiled a 22-12-4 record with Nyquist as assistant coach with two WAC Tournament berths and an NCAA Tournament match at home, the first in program history.
In 2022, Nyquist helped coach the Lopes to a 7-8-3 record with a 2-0-1 showing against teams ranked or receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches poll, including a 3-2 road victory over #4 UCLA. The win over the Bruins was the highest ranked win in program history.
The 2022 season also saw forward Shaun Joash earn WAC Offensive Player of the Year honors. GCU earned five WAC postseason awards in 2022 including one first team, a second team (Jibril Rodet) and two freshman honors (Erick Monge & Bright Nutornutsi).
The Lopes had one of its best seasons in program history in 2021, finishing 15-4-1 with a 9-2 conference record and 9-1-1 showing at home en-route to their second NCAA Tournament game and first at GCU Stadium. Highlighted wins include a 1-0 victory at No. 22 Oregon State and a 1-0 shutout of (RV) Saint Mary’s at home.
Nyquist’s first year saw two players drafted in the first round of the MLS SuperDraft in Esai Easley (22nd overall, Sporting Kansas City) and Justin Rasmussen (27th overall, Portland Timbers). Easley won WAC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2021 while Rasmussen earned All-WAC First Team. In his second, Nyquist saw two players earn MLS Next Pro contracts in Joash with Huntsville City and Ben Awashie with New England Revolution II.
Prior to GCU, Nyquist spent two seasons at the University of Portland as both an assistant coach and director of performance analysis. He conducted and coordinated the filming, coding, and presentation of both analytical and tactical aspects of the game for the Portland coaching staff. He also assisted with oppositional scouting, postgame analysis, and live game coding, utilizing both SportsCode and InStat software systems. Nyquist was also an Advisor for the Leadership Certificate Program in the Franz Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation.
In 2019, Portland endured a difficult non-conference schedule and challenging WCC slate to finish 9-7-1 on the season. Six Pilots earned All-WCC honors that season, led by Rey Ortiz as Portland’s All-WCC First Team selection. Luke Hendel earned second team honors while Gio Magana-Rivera, Jacobo Reyes and Francesco Tiozzo all eanred honorable mention. Reyes and defender Delentz Pierre also made the All-WCC Second Team.
Along with the conference recognition, Ortiz, Tiozzo and Hendel all went on to earn All-West Region honors, with Ortiz making the second team and Hendel making the third team. Reyes made TopDrawerSoccer’s Freshman Best XI Second Team in his only year with the Pilots, and he later competed in the MLS College Showcase in Raleigh, N.C.
In 2018, the Pilots climbed to No. 7 at 10-0-3 and in the national rankings as they were one of two teams in the country without a loss. The unbeaten streak was the longest for Portland since 1995 when the team put together 14 games without a loss.
Portland was rewarded when they received a berth to the postseason and a first-round home match against the Pac-12’s UCLA, a storied program that was making their 45th playoff appearance. The game in mid-November was the first home playoff contest for the Pilots since 2002. The win was Portland’s first in the playoffs since 2009 and their first at home since 2002.
The end of the season brought more individual accolades for the Pilots as seven Portland players landed All-West Conference recognition, five were named all-region, and Michel was named a Second Team All-American by the United Soccer Coaches. Michel, who led the team with 11 goals and was No. 3 in the nation with seven game-winners, is the first Pilot to be named an All-American by the United Soccer Coaches
Top Drawer Soccer named Michel to their Best XI Second Team, while Jake Arteaga was place on the TDS All-Freshman Second Team.
Michel and Magana-Rivera were named to the All-WCC First Team, Ortiz landed on the All-WCC Second Team, Esteban Calvo, Malcolm Dixon, and Lionel Mills all received honorable mention, and Jake Arteaga was named to the conference’s all-freshman team.
Earning United Soccer Coaches All-West Region were Michel and Ortiz (First Team), Weekes and Magana-Rivera (Second Team, and Dixon (Third Team).
Portland also ended the year ranked 21st in the country, marking the first time the Pilots finished the year in the national rankings since 2009.
In his recruiting role, Nyquist has had four top-15 recruiting classes via TopDrawerSoccer. With Portland, his classes ranked 8th in 2019, 4th in 2020 and 3rd in 2021. His first season at GCU during the summer of 2021, Nyquist brought the 14th best recruiting class to Phoenix en-route to an NCAA Tournament team.
Nyquist has coached multiple players who have gone on to the professional ranks, including Benji Mitchell (2018/Orlando City Homegrown), Rey Ortiz (2020 FC Cincinatti draft pick), Delentze Pierre (2023 Real Salt Lake Homegrown) and Brandon Cambridge (2023 Charlotte FC draft pick) while at Portland. In addition, he coached goalkeeper Nico Campuzano at Portland who signed an MLS Next Pro contract with New England Revolution II.
Prior to joining Portland during the summer of 2018, Nyquist spent the 2017 season scouting collegiately for Chicago Fire of the MLS, as well as coaching for North Carolina FC. During the 2016 season he worked as the director of performance analysis for the University of North Carolina’s men’s soccer program.
For the 2015-16 season Nyquist was an assistant coach at Robert Morris University, in Chicago, Ill. He was responsible for developing and leading training sessions, scouting and presenting technical/video reports on future opponents, conducting analysis of both individual and team performance, game day coaching and management.
Nyquist has also spent time in youth development programs, including coaching with New York Red Bulls and Chicago Fire.
He played collegiately at Seton Hall (2006-08) and Wisconsin (2008-10). Owner of a Bachelor of Arts degree in religious studies from Wisconsin, Nyquist has achieved the A License from the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), and the Premier Diploma from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).
Nyquist is married to the former Abby Newcom with two sons Rhodes and Wells. He is currently enrolled in the GCU Master's program and obtaining and master's of science in Leadership.
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