Nick Nikolich

Nick Nikolich

"The team aspect is the best thing about athletics. There is nothing like winning a championship as a team."
- Assistant Football Coach Nick Nikolich

 

The 2019 season will be the eighth for Nick Nikolich as an assistant coach with the Foresters. He will continue to direct the team’s outside linebackers.

Johnny Laponte led the Lake Forest outside linebackers with 68 tackles and was named Second Team All-Midwest Conference South Division in 2018.

Lake Forest is 46-24 during Nikolich’s seven seasons on staff with a conference title in 2012. The team’s outside linebackers have combined for well over 100 tackles and 15 tackles for loss per year under Nikolich’s direction and the Foresters have boasted an all-conference selection at the position in five of his seven seasons on staff.

Nikolich graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2010 after a four-year career. As a senior the linebacker captained the Titans to a conference championship and to the second round of the NCAA Division III Playoffs. He was also selected as the Don Larsen College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Defensive Player of the Year and earned Second Team All-American honors from D3football.com. Nikolich was the team’s leading tackler each of his final three seasons.

Nikolich is also a graduate of nearby Libertyville High School, which claimed the 7A state championship his junior season. He served as a team captain and earned all-conference and all-area honors his senior year.

In addition to coaching, Nikolich is a marketing programs and analysis manager at Medline Industries. He and his wife Teresa live in Chicago.