Reported this as a rumor last week – it’s now official…
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs will bring a coach who averaged more than 25 wins a season at NAIA Division I Carroll College to lead the Mountain Lion women’s basketball program. UCCS Athletic Director Steve Kirkham named Shawn Nelson as the next Head Women’s Basketball Coach. Nelson will begin on June 1.
"I’m absolutely thrilled to be here," Nelson said. "Everybody has been so welcoming. I just love the philosophy that they have in place and it really suits my coaching style and what I believe in as a coach."
Nelson was 201-70 in eight seasons as the head coach at Carroll College in Helena, Mont., and was the fastest and youngest coach in Frontier Conference history for men’s or women’s basketball to reach 100 wins. He is a five-time nominee for the Russell/WBCA NAIA Coach of the Year Award and his teams were ranked in the NAIA Top 25 all eight seasons.
"We’re excited to have a coach with the extensive basketball background like Coach Nelson," Kirkham said. "He has proven his ability to win at Carroll College, in institution with similar academic standards to UCCS. Another key for us was his extensive recruiting experience in the Rocky Mountain region."
Nelson coached two WBCA Kodak All-Americans, four Frontier Conference Most Valuable Players and 23 all-conference student-athletes. His teams led NAIA Division I in three-point percentage for four consecutive seasons, played in the Frontier Conference championship game five times and were in the conference semifinals in seven of his eight seasons. The Fighting Saints were national quarterfinalists in the 2007-08 season and advanced to the round of 16 in 2006-07 and 2004-05.
Nelson’s teams were a part of the WBCA Top 25 Academic Honor Roll all eight seasons and collected 72 academic all-conference honors. He coached 21 Daktronics Scholar-Athlete All-Americans at Carroll, and his teams were active in breast cancer awareness events, Special Olympics and elementary reading programs.
Nelson spent the last three seasons at NCAA Division II Central Washington, where he was hired to rebuild the Wildcat program. He implemented an academic resource program to solve eligibility problems, introduced community service programs and implemented core value standards. He coached five All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference student-athletes and the 2012 GNAC Freshman of the Year. Nelson was also a frequent clinician at the Washington State Coaches Clinic.
Nelson earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Carroll in 1996. He earned his master’s degree in sports management from the United States Sports Academy in 2000. Nelson takes the place of Corey Laster, who resigned from the University in March.
The Mountain Lions compete in 14 sports within the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference of NCAA Division II. UCCS student-athletes have earned 49 All-America and five Academic All-America honors since the start of intercollegiate athletics in the 1987-88 season. The Mountain Lions have recorded a departmental grade point average of 3.0 or greater for 19 consecutive semesters.
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