UNLV SOFTBALL ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Dr. Marissa Nichols (2005-10), Associate Athletics Director, Student-Athlete Development, Cal Athletics

UNLV softball continues its new alumni spotlight series, highlighting former Rebels that built the foundation of the UNLV softball program.

Ask most former college athletes and they will tell you how impactful the student-athlete experience was on their lives - from the memories and the friendships to the lessons learned, degrees gained and opportunities beyond their playing careers. Few have the chance to dedicate their professional lives to enriching and transforming that experience for the future generations of student-athletes, but that's exactly what former Rebel All-American Marissa Nichols '10 has done.

Now Dr. Marissa Nichols after earning her Ph.D from UNLV in 2017, the Diamond Bar, California, native has been a pioneer in the field of student-athlete development, leading an emerging focus in intercollegiate athletics on expanding support services for student-athletes and preparing them for life after sports.

Her passion for the subject led her to her current position at the University of California as Associate Athletics Director, where she was named the first-ever director of the Cameron Institute, an innovative program to support student-athlete development, in 2019. While Nichols has spent years researching, developing and implementing programs to improve the student-athlete experience for others, it was her own experience at UNLV that inspired her career path.

In fact, her very reasons for choosing to go to UNLV ended up shaping how she approached everything she did after that. While the Rebels had a storied history in the 1990s with NCAA regionals and trips to the Women's College World Series, by the time she was entering college in 2004-05, it had been a while since UNLV had generated the same kind of success.

"I was sold on the idea of building something special, especially with that coaching staff of Lonni, Sarah and Angel. I had a few opportunities to attend even more established programs, but their passion and vision for putting UNLV back on the map was unique. Building organizations and adding significant value have become my greatest values and it has showed up in every step of my career. It's a big part of who I am now."

Nichols couldn't have scripted it better her freshman year in 2005 as the Rebels put together one of the best seasons in program history and brought the team back to NCAA Regionals for the first time in a decade. UNLV went 44-19 under second-year head coach Lonni Alameda, earning an at-large bid in the Los Angeles regional. Nichols was one of five Rebels who garnered league all-conference first team honors that year, which is still a UNLV record as members of the Mountain West.

"It was an incredibly special year. I don't know if I could rewrite the story any better. We had a lot of freshmen contributing, and some incredible leadership from upperclassman, Jacque Kerrigan and Maggie Livreri, especially. The ability to come together being a newer squad and have the success we did it was really special and something I'll never forget. I know Maggie mentioned in her spotlight, when we saw we made postseason that year, it was truly exciting to experience that all together."

Unfortunately, the very next year the injury bug bit Nichols and several of her teammates and a return trip to the postseason, which seemed like a given after 2005, didn't happen. In Nichols' case, the injuries lingered and affected parts of her next three seasons, which for any athlete can be both discouraging and debilitating. It was that adversity, however, that ultimately prepared her to lead and mentor current student-athletes.

"When I'm working with students now, we talk about why this work is important. Those years of essentially reaching the highest part of my game, and then being completely sidelined for almost three years were crushing, but have shaped who I am today. I had to learn how to lead from the bench, explore who I was outside of being a successful athlete, and was pushed to broaden my horizons and understand what's possible. What I didn't realize is that I had teammates who appreciated that resilience and ability to stay positive. It was easy for me to get lost in the frustration and pain of it all, but I'm grateful to have learned it had a positive impact on those around me."

Another silver lining of injury challenges Nichols faced was the chance to be a part of the program for six years total, which means she got to help the team get back to the postseason in 2009 - the program's last trip to NCAA regionals. That year was special in a different way as the program had undergone a coaching change when Lonni left for Florida State after the 2008 season.

"In 2009, to come back after facing some adversity for multiple seasons was meaningful. It was really a new group, so having the chance to reposition ourselves with a new squad was also very memorable. I have a lot of fond memories of teammates from that time as well and their contributions to get us there were amazing."

When all was said and done on her playing career, Nichols' on-field accolades were remarkable. After an outstanding 2005 freshman campaign, she earned first team all league and NFCA All-West Region honors, then became just the sixth player in program history to be named a NFCA First Team All-American. In all, Nichols was a three-time Mountain West All-Conference First Team selection, a seven-time Mountain West Player of the Week and still sits in the top 10 in 10 career record book categories [fifth in batting average (.363), fourth in runs scored (157), sixth in hits (219), tied for fourth in doubles (47), tied for fifth in triples (10), fourth in home runs (40), third in slugging percentage (.672), eighth in walks (74), fourth in on-base percentage (.440) and second in stolen bases (55)].

Nichols' legacy went beyond her on-field accomplishments though. The five-time academic all-conference honoree and 2007 NFCA Scholar All American served two years on UNLV's Student-Athlete Advisory Council and was UNLV's 2005 Sportswoman of the Year. A natural leader, Nichols was UNLV's team captain for five of her six years and was UNLV's last finalist for NCAA Woman of the Year.

All these years later, what does that tremendous legacy mean to Nichols?

"It's really special. I don't think about it a lot, but it feels nice to know that I was able to have a great impact there. It's funny, I think we so easily as athletes get caught up in our stats and how we are doing, but if you asked me now about those things I certainly couldn't cite them. You hope that the things people remember are who you are, how you showed up, and your contributions as a human being, but it certainly feels nice to be reminded of it."

When Nichols looks back on those six years, so many experiences - from the adversity she faced to the lessons she learned from Lonni to the general ups and downs of being a student-athlete - had a profound impact in shaping her journey since then and how she approaches her current work.

"It was a true belief in the student-athlete opportunity and having the full spectrum of experiences - the highs and lows - and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I believe wholeheartedly how much it helped shape me as a human. It was incredibly influential in my desire and passion to do the work I do now, especially because there were times where I felt like I didn't have all the tools and skills I needed. That's where that drive comes in, to make sure that we set up our student-athletes to have structures to help them completely capitalize on this incredible opportunity they have."

Nichols specifically attributes her passion for student-athletes to what she learned playing for Alameda.

"Lonni has been one of the most significant and impactful people in my life. She not only helped me re-fall in love with the game, she showed us what it meant to truly care and develop us as people. I wholeheartedly believe that translated into greater performance. Throughout my academic and professional career, I have been able to do research on that very same thing. She was an incredible model for what she wanted to see - she sets the bar high, but she supports the heck out of you. You know that you're cared about, and you're also going to be pushed in meaningful ways. She has a vision for what's possible. When I came to UNLV, I was a pitcher, but she pulled me aside and said, you're not going to be pitching for us this year, so I need you to focus on other things. I had to buy into that philosophy. With her teaching and the support that she and the staff were able to provide, as well as the support of incredible teammates (especially Brittany Meade) and my family, I was able to buy into that and achieve some of the best personal success of my career. I think she has a special knack to make you feel seen, push you to higher limits, and bring out the best of everyone around her."

In essence, Alameda's coaching philosophy formed the basis of Nichols' philosophy for student-athlete development.

"The philosophy is better humans, better performers - and using data to position students and customize their developmental path over their four years. A lot of the work is derived from this idea of helping them perform to their full potential, both while they're here and then for a lifetime, and I feel really grateful to be in roles where I'm able to help create structures, processes, programs and initiatives to make that come to life. A lot of my philosophy has been around measuring and showing success because it's hard to capture success in our field. If we can show return on investment for what these positions can do for our student-athletes, the more athletic departments are going to invest in them and the more it will become a staple and what we do across the landscape of intercollegiate athletics."

In being at the forefront of this student-athlete movement, Nichols has now had the opportunity to serve in first-of-its-kind positions in three different athletic departments - Cal, Boston University and UNLV - and it's been rewarding at every stop.

"Being able to support student-athletes across the country to new heights, make strategic decisions, and execute on a grand vision every day is such a wonderful part of my role. Then being able to collaborate and work with really amazing colleagues who have such a heart for this work and strive to solidify this field to make it a critical part of our student-athletes' and coaches' careers has been very rewarding. One thing we do at Cal too is support our coaches really well because that directly influences our students-athletes. We have a lot of opportunities for our coaches to recieve support so they can continue to enhance their own work with their teams."

While she's grateful for her experiences at all three institutions, she credits UNLV as really the launching point of what she's been able to accomplish so far - both because of her time as a student-athlete and in her post-graduate work.

"The opportunity that [UNLV] presents being that it's a newer institution and an up-and-coming department, I think the opportunity to really leave a legacy and contribute while you are there is something I love about it. I've come across some amazing professionals, teammates, and peers and I honestly attribute so much of my success to my experiences not only as a student-athlete, but also in my graduate work. In my Ph. D. program, I had incredible mentors - Dr. Nancy Lowe is one that comes to mind - that helped me understand what's possible. And Becky Pugh, she helped make this position possible. I wouldn't be doing this work if I hadn't gotten that first opportunity in the Academic Success Center (ASC). That's a lot of what we are trying to do for our student-athletes too, is how do we create that first opportunity - we're calling it the golden opportunity because we are the Golden Bears. My golden opportunity was in the ASC and it's taken me to some really amazing places."

In reminiscing over favorite memories of her playing days, it is hard not to think of the magical 2005 season as one of her favorites.

"Our freshman year, we surprised so many people with our success and I think every week there was a new article or commentary about how they couldn't believe what we were achieving as a team. The trajectory of that year and being selected for the postseason is a really awesome memory. Another one is when Kendall [Fearn], Bri [Bernardi] and I returned from multiple injuries at the beginning of the 2009 season. I always dreamed of hitting a home run my first at-back back, and it somewhat came true. In my second at-bat that game, I hit a home run and Kendall hit one right after me, so that was pretty fun for us. And then spending a lot of time with Brittany [Meade], Maggie [Huffaker], Becky [Pugh] and some of my closest friends, connecting with them even outside of softball too, created some of my favorite memories."

Speaking of Brittany, Maggie and Becky - all previously featured in an alumni spotlight - what has it been like to see all of them go on to pursue paths within college athletics?

"I'm so proud of them, to see their careers unfold and how we've all taken different paths in athletics. We all have very different trajectories and I admire and respect everything they're accomplishing. It feels really nice to be able to understand each other. We're not necessarily in each other's day to day, but we still get what each other is doing because [athletics] is a unique world."

Following the success of the current Rebels under head coach Kristie Fox is also something that makes Nichols feel proud.

"It feels really great [to see the success]. You feel a sense of pride and gratitude for Kristie and her staff, and their dedication to helping make our program great. That's all you want to see as an alum, to see UNLV continue to grow and thrive across all sports and especially softball. I look forward to seeing what they do and continuing to connect more with the program."