Tommy Nienhaus was hired Friday as the sixth head coach in the history of the William Woods men's soccer program.
He replaces Nathan Mason, who resigned in May to start with Columbia Select SC as Club Director and Assistant Director of Coaching. Mason leaves as the all-time winningest coach in the program's history following 13 years at the helm. He owns a 131-94 career record, with nine double-digit winning seasons, and the program's only NAIA national tournament appearance in 2017.
Neinhaus leaves his previous head coaching job at the University of Jamestown in North Dakota the all-time winningest coach in their program, with a record of 75-57-13. His teams were ranked nationally in the NAIA in four different seasons, with the highest ranking in school history coming during the 2012 season when they were 16th in the final poll.
In his career, Nienhaus has coached many all-conference and All-American players and helped develop three players who signed professional contracts. His players have also thrived in the classroom as his 2015 and 2016 teams earned the NSCAA Academic Award and all of his Jamestown teams held a 3.0 cumulative GPA or better.
"I want to thank (Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Jason Vittone) and all of the coaches who made the interview process welcoming and for trusting me to lead the program," Nienhaus said. "I believe we can continue the good work (Nathan Mason) has done, and I look forward to writing the next chapter."
His previous coaching experience was as an assistant coach with a private boarding school in Minnesota called Shattuck-St. Mary's School, where he helped coach a couple of national final teams in 2010 and 2013.
Nienhaus has served in positions youth soccer deveopment programs as the Director of Coaching with the Jamestown Soccer Club and was involved with ODP - another youth program in the Dakotas.
The Owls had a run of 11 straight winning seasons from 2009-19, including three straight years from 2017-19 when they had a 13-4-3 record, that had their lone national tournament appearance and an AMC regular season championship both in 2017. They are still looking for their first AMC tournament championship. The most recent William Woods season resulted in a 4-5-1 record in a pandemic-shortened schedule and a loss in the AMC quarterfinals to Columbia College.
"We are very pleased to add Tommy to our family," Vittone said. "He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our department. I'm looking forward to the fall and watching our team compete under his leadership."