Nichols retires as Spartans volleyball coach

Vickie Nichols is going out on top.

After leading her Mountain Brook High School volleyball team to back-to-back state championships, Nichols has announced her retirement following a coaching career that has spanned 33 years.

“The last match I ever coached, we won a state championship,” Nichols said on Tuesday afternoon. “I can live with that.”

Nichols informed her team of her decision on Monday, concluding four highly successful seasons at Mountain Brook. During her time there, the Spartans compiled a record of 162-48, including the program’s fourth and fifth state titles in 2019 and 2020.

“It’s pretty unbelievable when I think about it,” Nichols said. “It’s because I’ve got a great staff and great athletes and a lot of hard-working kids.”

A native of Florence, Nichols was a three-sport athlete at Bradshaw High School before going on to play volleyball at Mississippi State. After a stop at Hazlewood High, she began the volleyball program at Northwest Shoals Community College alongside college teammate Tina Seals and remained there for six years before becoming the head coach at Samford.

Nichols also had assistant coaching stops at Hoover and Oak Mountain before coming to Mountain Brook.

“I couldn’t have accomplished what we did without having great assistant coaches and I am very thankful for their hard work and friendship to me,” she said.

Although she is unsure of what she will do in the next chapter of her life, Nichols is at peace with the decision to step away.

“I don’t know what’s next and we’re okay with that, because I know that the Lord will show us at the time we need to see it. It’s exciting,” she said. 

Nichols said what she will miss most is the relationships and fellow coaching friends she has gained along the way. She also expressed gratitude for Mountain Brook’s willingness to trust her with the program.

“It’s bittersweet,” Mountain Brook athletic director Benny Eaves said. “I’m excited because I know her plans for the future are with her husband and family and children and grandchildren. We appreciate everything she’s done for our program.”

Nichols has nine kids and four grandkids that she plans to spend a great deal of time with in the future. She believes the Mountain Brook program is in good hands moving forward.

Eaves said the plan is for Mountain Brook to have a new coach in place by the time tryouts are conducted later this spring.