Anthero "Nick" Nicolau (May 5, 1933 – December 6, 2014) was an American football coach. He is known for his tenure as a longtime assistant coach 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) and

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 ...

. He graduated from

Southern Connecticut State University Southern Connecticut State University (Southern Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State, SCSU, or simply "Southern") is a public research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Part of the Connecticut State University System, it ...

. He spent most of the 1960s -'70s coaching at college programs such as Bridgeport (Head Coach),

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, and

Kent State Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Ashtabula, Burton, East Liverpool, Jackson Township, New Philadelphia, ...

. Nicolau broke into the NFL with the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

in 1980 under then head coach Dick Stanfel. He moved on to the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

, coaching the

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

s from 1981 through 1987. Some of the players he coached included Dave Preston, Sammy Winder, and Steve Sewell. A dispute ended his tenure in Denver. He landed with the

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). The Raiders played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural ...

, but got into a dispute with another assistant coach,

Art Shell Arthur Lee Shell Jr. (born November 26, 1946) is an American former professional football player and coach. He played as an offensive tackle in the American Football League (AFL) and later in the National Football League (NFL) for the Oakland / ...

. Shell was supported by owner and managing partner

Al Davis Allen R. Davis (July 4, 1929 – October 8, 2011) was an American professional football executive and coach. He was the managing general partner, principal owner and ''de facto'' general manager of the National Football League (NFL) Oakland Rai ...

, who fired Nicolau. He then went to the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

and served as their

wide receivers A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense, WR gets its name from the player being spli ...

coach from 1989 to 1991. There he worked with talents such as

Andre Reed Andre Darnell Reed (born January 29, 1964) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 16 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football for the Ku ...

and

Don Beebe Donald Lee Beebe (born December 18, 1964) is an American college football coach and former wide receiver. He is the head football coach for Aurora University, a position he has held since 2019. He previously played in the National Football Leag ...

. It was rumored that Nicolau left Buffalo due to a dispute with offensive line coach Tom Bresnahan who became offensive coordinator the next season. In 1992, he became the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

of the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

under head coach

Ted Marchibroda Theodore Joseph Marchibroda (March 15, 1931 – January 16, 2016) was an American professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He played four years in the NFL as a quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers (1953, ...

with whom he worked in Buffalo. He helped the Colts to a 9–7 record in 1992 and an 8–8 record in 1994. He helped develop Reggie Langhorne as a receiver and worked with

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Jeff George Jeffrey Scott George (born December 8, 1967) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini, winning the Samm ...

as well. In 1994, he helped turn running back

Marshall Faulk Marshall William Faulk (born February 26, 1973) is an American former professional American football, football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons and is the current running backs coach at the Colorado ...

as a rookie while also working with both

Jim Harbaugh James Joseph Harbaugh ( ; born December 23, 1963) is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach at ...

and

Don Majkowski Donald "Majik" Vincent Majkowski (born February 25, 1964) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, and Detroit Lions. He played ...

at quarterback. Nicolau then spent two seasons coaching the

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

s for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

, helping to develop Pete Mitchell as a blocker and receiver. In 1997, Jaguars offensive coordinator

Kevin Gilbride Kevin Bernard Gilbride (born August 27, 1951) is a former American football coach and player. He coached in the NFL for twenty years, spending seven of them as the offensive coordinator for the New York Giants, with whom he earned two Super Bo ...

became the head coach of the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

and Nicolau followed him to California. There he served two years as the Chargers assistant head coach before retiring after the

1998 NFL season The 1998 NFL season was the 79th regular season of the National Football League (NFL). The season culminated with Super Bowl XXXIII, with the Denver Broncos defeating the Atlanta Falcons 34–19 at Pro Player Stadium in Miami. The Broncos ha ...

. He died at age 81, on December 6, 2014.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicolau, Nick 1933 births 2014 deaths American football running backs Bridgeport Purple Knights football coaches Buffalo Bills coaches UConn Huskies football coaches Denver Broncos coaches Hamilton Tiger-Cats coaches Indianapolis Colts coaches Jacksonville Jaguars coaches Kent State Golden Flashes football coaches Kentucky Wildcats football coaches Los Angeles Raiders coaches Montreal Alouettes coaches New Orleans Saints coaches Southern Connecticut Owls football coaches Southern Connecticut Owls football players Players of American football from New York City Springfield Pride football coaches UMass Minutemen football coaches