It hasn't taken Angie Nicholson long to accomplish her goal ofmaking Cleveland State one of the top programs in the HorizonLeague.
With 189 wins, a pair of regular season league titles, onetournament title and NCAA appearance in her first six seasons, shehas quickly built the Vikings into an elite program.
A two-time Horizon League Coach of the Year selection, Nicholsonhas guided the Vikings to 29 or more wins in five of her first sixseasons, including a school-record 44 wins in 2010. She has morethan double the three 30-win campaigns that CSU had in the 28seasons before she took over the program.
And she is looking for even better things in the future.
The 2000 Cleveland State graduate took over as head coach in thefall of 2006 and the success quickly followed.
During just her first season at CSU (2007), she led the Vikingsto a second place regular season finish in the Horizon League afterposting a 33-14 record and was one inning away from winning theHorizon League Championship, earning a second place finish.
Four Vikings earned All-Horizon League honors and two receivedacademic league accolades under Nicholson in her first season ashead coach and her 33 wins are the fourth-highest total in programhistory.
In 2008, she earned her first Coach of the Year award after theVikings went 31-18 and won a regular season Horizon League title.Four CSU players earned all-conference honors and two were named tothe all-newcomer team.
The 2009 season saw the Vikings go 35-18 overall, finishingsecond in the league in the regular season and capping the year bywinning the first Horizon League title in school history. That winclinched CSU's second berth in the NCAA tournament and first since1997. Six players were named to the all-league team, including theHorizon League Pitcher of the Year for the second season in arow.
The 35 wins allowed Nicholson to became the first head coach inprogram history to lead the Vikings to three consecutive 30-winseasons.
Nicholson did those records one better in 2010 as the Vikingsset a Horizon League record by going 22-2 in league play and set aschool record with 44 victories. The Vikings swept the leagueawards with Tthe Player of the Year, the Newcomer of the Year andPitcher of the Year all coming from Cleveland State in addition toNicholson being chosen as the Coach of the Year.
In 2011, Cleveland State won 29 games and had two all-leagueperformers, including the league Player of the Year. Four differentVikings were named to the academic all-league team.
Last season, the Vikings finished the year 17-39, and 9-15 inthe Horizon League. Cleveland State had three players recognized asall-league performers in 2012. Junior Dara Toman led the way with aFirst Team All-League selection. While sophomore Sara Shields wasnamed both Second Team All-League and All-Newcomer team selection,and freshman Nena Doran joined Shields on the All-Newcomerteam.
Nicholson begins her seventh season at CSU with a 189-125 recordand a eight-year overall record of 232-172-1 that does not includea 94-64 mark in four years at the junior college level.
