| Title: | Associate Head Coach |
| Phone: | 620-728-8185 |
| Email: | nitschee@hutchcc.edu |
Eric Nitsche is in his third season as an assistant for the Blue Dragon men’s basketball team. He joined the staff before the 2021-22 season, and he brought some high-powered credentials with him.
Before the 2023-24 season, Nitche was promoted to Associate Head Coach,
The Blue Dragons posted a 26-9 record in 2021-22. The Blue Dragons led the Jayhawk Conference and was fifth in the NJCAA in scoring at 94.2 points per game. The Blue Dragons finished second in the KJCCC, was Region VI Tournament runner-up and advanced to the second round of the NJCAA Tournament.
The 2022-23 Blue Dragons finished 20-12. The Dragons led the Jayhawk Conference and were No. 3 in the NJCAA in scoring average at 97.2 points per game.
Nitsche has mentored a pair of NJCAA All-Americans – Angelo Stuart in 2022 and Aaron Franklin in 2023.
Nitsche came to Hutchinson Community College from a successful seven-year stint with Blue Dragon head coach Tommy DeSalme at Cowley College. Hutchinson is Nitsche’s third Jayhawk Conference assignment, also coaching at Cowley and his alma mater, Kansas City, Kansas Community College.
At Cowley from 2014 to 2021, the Tigers won 133 games, but it was over the last two seasons that the Tiger program reached national prominence by re-creating their identity.
Becoming a high-scoring, full-court pressure team for 40 minutes, the 2019-20 Tigers led the nation in scoring at 109.8 points per game and won the Jayhawk East championship. The Tigers were eliminated in the Region VI Tournament semifinals, but received an at-large bid to the 2020 NJCAA Tournament. That would have been Cowley’s first national tournament appearance since 1957, but the Coronavirus pandemic cancelled the tournament.
The 2020-21 Tigers picked up right where the previous season left off. Cowley was No. 2 in the NJCAA in scoring at 119 points per game. The 2020-21 Tigers went 24-5, tied for the Jayhawk East title, won the Region VI Tournament for the first time since 1957 and advanced all the way to the NJCAA Tournament championship game. The 2020-21 Tigers averaged 14.1 made 3-pointers per game.
Over his time at Cowley, Nitsche coached nine All-Region VI players, 20 All-KJCCC performers, a two-time NJCAA All-American in Daylen Ridgnal as well as numerous all-league and all-NJCAA scholar athletes.
Nitsche started his coaching career as an assistant at Kansas City. From 2010-13, the Blue Devils produced a record of 66-30. He recruited and coached eight all-Jayhawk East and four All-Region VI performers at KCK.
Nitsche, who was an All-City basketball and football player at Shawnee Mission North High School, played his first two years of college basketball at Kansas City before spending his final two seasons at the University of Saint Mary. He led his college teams to 20 plus wins all four years and finished in the top-10 in career 3-point field goal percentage at both schools.
At KCK, Nitsche scored 15 points in a Region VI Tournament win over Hutchinson in 2007. He hit nine 3-pointers in an NAIA playoff game while at St. Mary’s.
Nitsche is a 2005 graduate of Shawnee Missoin north, a 2007 graduate of KCK and a 2010 graduate of St. Mary’s University with a degree in Sports/Business Management.
Nitsche and wife, Hannah, have three sons: Blake (9), Jack (7) and Luke (4).