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Steve Nichols
Steve Nichols quickly elevated Loyola men’s soccer back to national prominence after returning to lead his alma mater in 2014. The Greyhounds have been regulars at the top of the Patriot League standings in each of the past six seasons, and the fall 2021 campaign saw the program make its return to the NCAA tournament after topping American in the Patriot League Championship game.
Nichols, who completed his eighth season as head coach in 2021, has guided the Greyhounds to a conference record of four-consecutive Patriot League fall regular season championships. Loyola added a Patriot League South division title during the COVID-impacted spring season in 2020-21, and the program has an overall record of 54-31-12 (37-9-4 PL) over the last six years.
The Greyhounds went 6-1-2 during the last nine games of their memorable 2021 campaign. An 83rd minute free kick goal by Patriot League Midfielder of the Year Justin Ingram, along with a last-second diving save by Goalkeeper of the Year Chase Vosvick, clinched a 2-1 victory over American in the conference final. That gave Loyola its first Patriot League Championship since joining the conference in 2013, and it clinched the Greyhounds’ ninth appearance in the Division I tournament (first since 2009).
Loyola then proved it belonged on the national stage, out-shooting perennial College Cup contenders North Carolina in the second half of a scoreless draw in the first round before ultimately falling on penalty kicks.
Nichols was honored as the Patriot League’s Coach of the Year for a fourth time since 2016, and Loyola has now earned 18 major awards from the conference during that span. Ingram (first team) and Vosvick (second team) added United Soccer Coaches All-Region accolades during a season which included a 0-0 draw at then-No. 5 West Virginia in September. Ingram repeated as Midfielder of the Year, while Vosvick leaves the program as a four-time Goalkeeper of the Year and a five-time All-Patriot League performer.
The Greyhounds were recognized in the United Soccer Coaches national poll in each of the first three seasons (2017-19) of their current run atop the Patriot League standings. The 2019 campaign was highlighted by an 8-1-1 finish to the regular season, with the lone draw in that stretch a 1-1 result at No. 2 Wake Forest. Loyola held the Demon Deacons, who would ultimately advance to the Final Four, without a shot over the final 77 minutes of game action, and Josh Fawole’s last-second equalizer was featured on Sports Center’s Top 10 plays for the evening.
Fawole (2nd round, DC United) and Barry Sharifi (3rd round, New York Red Bulls) were both chosen in the MLS SuperDraft following the season, giving Loyola multiple selections in the draft for the first time in program history.
Sharifi became the first men’s soccer player in Patriot League history to receive three major postseason awards, as he received his third Midfielder of the Year honor in 2019. Loyola received eight All-Patriot League selections, with Fawole, Sharifi and Brian Saramago named to the first team, and five United Soccer Coaches All-Region honorees.
The team has achieved in the classroom as well, with 23 student-athletes named to the Patriot League Academic Honor roll last season. Ten Greyhounds have combined for 15 Academic All-Patriot League honors since Nichols was hired in 2014, and Gabriel Carlsson was recognized as the conference’s Men’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year following the 2018 season.
Inheriting a team that went 7-8-2 in 2013 and won just two games in its inaugural season of Patriot League play, Nichols’ first two squads combined for an overall record of 7-21-6 and a 2-13-3 mark in conference games during the rebuilding process.
The 2016 season saw the start of the men’s soccer program’s turnaround, as Nichols and his staff brought in the program’s first-ever nationally ranked recruiting class, a group ranked No. 13 by College Soccer News. Highlighted by prized recruits Saramago and Sharifi from the NY Red Bull Academy, Nico Brown and Jonathan Sousa from DC United and Fawole from Baltimore Celtic, Loyola posted its first winning season since 2012 that year, going 8-7-3 overall.
Nichols was voted the Patriot League Coach of the Year for guiding his team to its first Patriot League Tournament appearance and a quarterfinal round bye after finishing runner-up in the League with a 6-1-2 overall record, despite being picked to finish tied for eighth. Loyola placed five Greyhounds on an all-conference team that year, while Saramago was voted the Patriot League Rookie of the Year and Matt Sanchez became Loyola’s first goalkeeper to earn a major conference award since Reb Beatty was the MAAC Defender of the Year in 2002.
Despite facing multiple injuries throughout the early part of the 2017 season, Loyola continued its hot streak by outscoring conference opponents 18-9, en route to winning its first-ever Patriot League Regular Season Championship - and hosting duties for the 2017 Patriot League Tournament – with a 7-2 record in conference play. With an 11-5-1 overall record, the Greyhounds turned in their first 10-win season since 2012 and rose to No. 1 in the Northeast Region rankings for the first time since 2008.
Nichols was once again named the Patriot League Coach of the Year and Loyola placed a League-best seven Greyhounds on the All-Patriot League Teams. Sharifi was named the Patriot League Midfielder of the Year and Vosvick picked up both Goalkeeper and Rookie of the Year accolades.
A remarkable 10 players earned All-Patriot League status in 2018, as Loyola went 12-4-1 (7-1-1) and once again topped the conference standings. Saramago and Sharifi became the first Greyhounds to earn United Soccer Coaches All-America status in a decade, with each landing on the third team, while Vosvick repeated as Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year and Nichols was named Patriot League Coach of the Year for a third-straight season.
Nichols was named the ninth head coach in Loyola men's soccer history on February 6, 2014, and just the third in the program's NCAA Division I history since 1982. He took over the reins of a program that advanced to the MAAC Tournaments each year it was a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, winning a league-best 12 titles, before joining the Patriot League for the 2013 season.
Prior to returning to Loyola, Nichols coached Baltimore's top talent for over 22 years. In addition to serving as head coach of the Baltimore Bohemians professional team and director of coaching for the Baltimore Celtic Soccer Club youth organization, he spent 17 years building McDonogh School into a perennial national prep power. He led the program to a No. 1 national high school ranking on two occasions, including 2013, when the Eagles posted an unprecedented unbeaten record of 21-0-1, en route to winning the national championship. McDonogh won eight MIAA Championships under Nichols and were MIAA runners-up on six occasions.
Nichols was named the 2013 NSCAA Boys Private/Parochial School National Coach of the Year and has garnered honors such as NSCAA/MACS Coach of the Year, NSCAA/Adidas Regional and State Coach of the Year and Baltimore Sun Metro Coach of the Year. He was also named the Maryland State High School Terry Colaw Service Award winner in 2007 and the Richard Bartos Memorial Coach of the Year in 2000.
Outside of McDonogh, Nichols is the only coach in the nation to win nine National Youth Soccer Championships and was appointed the national coach for the U-17 Chelsea Tour in England in both 2009 and 2011. He served as the head coach for the Maryland Olympic Development Program from 1995-99, being awarded as the Maryland Olympic Development Coach of the Year in 1996 and was an MLS player combine coach in 2007.
A graduate of Boys' Latin School of Maryland, Nichols began his career at James Madison before coming to Loyola to help the men's soccer program to a 28-7-8 record, including an unblemished 13-0-0 mark in MAAC play, through the 1989 and 1990 seasons. Nichols, an all-region performer and two-time team most valuable player, remained with the program for the 1991 season while finishing his coursework, helping the squad to a third-straight MAAC regular season and tournament title.
Following his time in the Green and Grey, Nichols went on to play professionally for the Baltimore Spirit of the NPS Land the Baltimore Bays of the USISL, before taking over at McDonogh School.
Nichols earned his bachelor of arts in communications and public relations from Loyola in 1992.
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