The University of Maryland Baltimore County has fired its top two softball coaches — married couple Angie and Rick Nicholson — 18 games into the season for inappropriate conduct with players.
According to Sports Illustrated, citing a report in the Baltimore Sun, Edward Lee of the Sun spoke with parents of three players and reported Monday that Rick Nicholson brushed the chest of two players while attempting to swat away insects on two separate occasions.
"When the second player objected to the contact, Rick Nicholson scolded the player, according to one parent," Lee wrote. "He walked into the dugout and threatened to cut the player, which was overheard and reported by an observer, two parents said."
The parents confirmed that Rick Nicholson was fired on Tuesday and Angie Nicholson was dismissed on Sunday evening. Both coaches were removed from the UMBC website shortly after the Baltimore Sun report was published Monday morning.
The Nicholsons have two daughters on the team. Kenzie is a senior playing at her fourth school in four years, and Taylor is a graduate likewise is at her fourth school. Before landing at UMBC, Kenzie had played at Arizona State, Jacksonville State and New Mexico. Taylor started at Missouri before transferring to Arizona State and then to New Mexico State, SI reported.
After canceling its most recent six games, including a three-game America East series against Binghamton, the rest of the 2026 season is reportedly in jeopardy, Maren Angus-Coombs of SI reported. As of Tuesday, the Retrievers are 10-6.
The firings leave the team with just one coach, Jill Haines, who is in her first year at UMBC after spending last season as an assistant pitching coach at Marymount University, according to SI.
Parents claim UMBC athletic director Tiffany D. Tucker didn't provide the team with any clarity after a team meeting on Sunday. “They said they don’t know what’s going to become of the season,” the parent said. “They did not want any of this to happen.
“There was no plan for how to move forward. That is absolutely absurd. … A lot of these players feel like their season has been taken away from them, and the blame is being pushed to them. But the blame should be on the administration and maybe on the coaches.”
