NORMAN, Okla. – Nicole Nelson is the new head soccer coach at the University of Oklahoma after an impressive three-year run as the head coach at Stephen F. Austin and successful stints as an assistant coach at Texas and Baylor.

Nelson was a three-time captain and all-Sooner Athletic Conference player for Oklahoma City University from 1995-97 under coach Brian Harvey.

As a player, Nelson started every game and was the team captain in 1995, 1996 and 1997 at OCU under Harvey. Nelson was a three-time All-Sooner Athletic Conference member and NAIA academic all-American. She began her collegiate career at Texas A&M as a freshman and concluded it at OCU.

"She's done tremendously well," Harvey said. "She was always a hard worker and has carried that into her coaching career."

Nelson, a native of Yukon, Okla., who attended Mustang High School and graduated from Oklahoma City University in 1997, expressed her joy in returning home.

"I am excited to return home to the state of Oklahoma to coach," Nelson said. "Having grown up playing and coaching in this state it is with tremendous pride that I accept this position. I am grateful for the opportunities that I had at Texas, Baylor and Stephen F. Austin, as they prepared me for the work that lies ahead here at Oklahoma. What I have learned working for the University of Texas and more specifically Chris Petrucelli, has been invaluable.

"The commitment to excellence here at Oklahoma is very evident in the athletic administration's support and the quality of the new soccer facility. I am determined to bring in a staff and recruits that will embrace making championships a Sooner soccer tradition."

Throughout seven years of her collegiate coaching career, Nelson's teams have accumulated an 81-47-20 record, including a 33-19-9 mark while at the helm of the Stephen F. Austin program from 2002-2004.

During her two years as an assistant at Texas, Nelson assisted with all aspects of running the program and helped coach a Longhorn team that won back-to-back postseason Big 12 Championships in 2006 and 2007. Texas also made consecutive appearances in the NCAA Sweet 16 during Nelson's tenure, which also featured nine All-Big 12 honorees and three All-America honors.

Nelson also served as the recruiting coordinator at Texas, a position she also held as an assistant coach while at Baylor University in 2005. 

Prior to her stint at Baylor, Nelson directed the Stephen F. Austin program to two Southland Conference Championships. In her second year at the helm, Nelson's Ladyjacks won the conference tournament and advanced to the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2003. In 2004, SFA won the regular season Southland Championship and Nelson was named the conference coach of the year for the second consecutive season. Nelson tutored 25 student-athletes that were tabbed All-SLC over three seasons and left the Ladyjacks as the winningest coach in program history.

Before she started her career in coaching, Nelson played soccer for the Austin Lonestars (W-League). Following that stint she worked with numerous clubs and camps before taking her first position in the collegiate ranks as a volunteer assistant at her alma mater in 2000-01.

Nelson earned her bachelor's degree in psychology as well as a bachelor of arts degree in Spanish in 1997 at Oklahoma City University. She received her master's degree in kinesiology from Stephen F. Austin in May 2005.