Hardy Otto Nickerson Sr. (born September 1, 1965) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and coach. He played as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

for four teams over 16 seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) from 1987 to 2002. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the California Golden Bears. He was selected by the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

in the fifth round of the

1987 NFL draft The 1987 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 28–29, 1987, at the Marriot Ma ...

. Nickerson spent the prime of his career with the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

. The hiring of head coaches

Sam Wyche Samuel David Wyche (; January 5, 1945 – January 2, 2020) was an American professional football quarterback and coach. He was a quarterback and head coach for the Cincinnati Bengals and a quarterbacks coach for the San Francisco 49ers. As hea ...

and Tony Dungy allowed him to play in the middle in a 4–3 defense for both coaches; Nickerson played in a 3–4 defense with the Steelers. While playing in the 4–3, he went to five Pro Bowls, and was selected for the National Football League 1990s All-Decade Team.

Early life

Nickerson attended Verbum Dei High School, a

Catholic school Catholic schools are Parochial school, parochial pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest parochial schools, religious, no ...

located in Watts, Los Angeles. He earned a BA degree in sociology from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1989.

Broadcasting and coaching

In 2006, Nickerson became the color analyst for the Buccaneer Radio Network, teaming him with the longtime veteran

play-by-play In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

man Gene Deckerhoff. On February 23, 2007, Nickerson was named linebackers coach of the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

, where he coached for his former Tampa Bay position coach, Lovie Smith. On January 8, 2008, he resigned from the Bears due to health issues within his family. On April 15, 2010, Nickerson was hired as the head football coach at Bishop O'Dowd High School in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, a traditional powerhouse that has produced future NFL players such as Tarik Glenn, Langston Walker, Kirk Morrison, and Eric Bjornson. During Nickerson's tenure, he led the Dragons to back to back league titles and was also responsible for producing nearly 20 scholarship athletes in a period of three years. Nickerson stepped down from the head coaching position on November 18, 2013. Nickerson was named the linebackers coach for the

under Lovie Smith on January 7, 2014. On January 23, 2016, Nickerson was hired by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

as linebackers coach under new head coach

Chip Kelly Charles Edward Kelly (born November 25, 1963) is an American professional American football, football coach who is the offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He came to prominence as a college foo ...

. On March 10, 2016, Nickerson was hired by the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

under new head coach Lovie Smith. On October 30, 2018, Nickerson announced his resignation as defensive coordinator citing health reasons. On April 7, 2022, Nickerson returned as the head football coach at Bishop O'Dowd High School.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Personal life

His son Hardy Nickerson Jr. is a former linebacker who played in the

for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

and the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

References

External links

Illinois profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nickerson, Hardy 1965 births Living people American football middle linebackers California Golden Bears football players Chicago Bears coaches Green Bay Packers players Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Jacksonville Jaguars players National Conference Pro Bowl players NFL announcers Pittsburgh Steelers players Tampa Bay Buccaneers announcers Tampa Bay Buccaneers players High school football coaches in California Players of American football from Compton, California African-American coaches of American football Verbum Dei High School alumni 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen