Nickerson Hired to Lead Army West Point

The decision is in for Army West Point! New York native Troy Nickerson will head to his home state to become the new head coach for Army. 

Nickerson just wrapped up his 11th season as the head coach at the University of Northern Colorado. The 2024-25 proved to be one of the best in school history as the Bears placed two wrestlers on the NCAA podium, a feat that they had not achieved in almost 60 years. UNC also had two Big 12 champions for the second time in three seasons. 

In addition to the exploits from the 2024-25 season, Nickerson guided Andrew Alirez to a 2023 NCAA title at 141 lbs. Alirez was the first DI national champion for Northern Colorado in wrestling…or any other sport! Alirez finished the 2022-23 campaign undefeated and was named a Hodge Trophy finalist and Big 12 Wrestler of the Year. 

Nickerson finished his UNC tenure with three All-Americans and three others named honorable mention All-Americans during the 2019-20 season. In his 11 years, Nickerson helped send 37 wrestlers to the NCAA Tournament and had five of them win Big 12 crowns. Prior to Nickerson’s arrival, only 18 Bear wrestlers qualified for the NCAA tournament from 2007-15. 

Nickerson will inherit an Army West Point team that returns six of their seven NCAA qualifiers from 2025, along with two more from 2024. Army has an impressive recruiting Class of 2025 that will be featured in our forthcoming rankings, along with a loaded Class of 2026. 

Army finished tied for third in the revamped EIWA in 2025, the same place they finished in 2024. 

While Nickerson ultimately got the call, Army’s Associate Head Coach Scott Green and The Citadel’s head coach Ryan LeBlanc were finalists for the position. 

We’ll monitor how this move impacts the Army staff and Northern Colorado’s new vacancy.