More Details Emerge About Toxic Coaches as UMBC Softball Cancels Season

The season was officially canceled on March 31.

UMBC fired softball head coach Angie Nicholson after just 18 games. | UMBC Athletics

After canceling 11 straight games, the UMBC softball program announced the cancellation of the 2026 season following the firing of two coaches.

The decision was announced on Tuesday, March 31.

Head coach Angie Nicholson and her husband and assistant coach, Rick Nicholson, coached just 18 games in their first season with the Retrievers.

"After numerous meetings with our student-athletes, it became clear that we would not have the level of participation necessary to be able to safely complete the remainder of the 2026 season," said Director of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation Tiffany D. Tucker. "The health and safety of our student-athletes will always be our top priority, and we simply do not have a full complement of softball team members in order to continue participating on the field this season."

The official statement from UMBC canceling the remainder of the 2026 season was published at 3:52 p.m. ET. pic.twitter.com/lb72CDn5g5

— Maren Angus-Coombs (@Maren_Angus) March 31, 2026

Parents confirmed to Edward Lee of The Baltimore Sun that Rick was accused of inappropriate conduct after he allegedly brushed the chest of two players while attempting to swat away insects on two separate occasions.

The parents, who requested anonymity, told Lee that the second player objected to the contact and was scolded by Rick Nicholson. He then walked into the dugout and threatened to cut the player, which an observer overheard and reported.

Before UMBC, Angie Nicholson served as head coach at Norfolk State (2025), Georgia State (2022-24), Hampton (2017-21), Eastern Illinois (2014-16), and Cleveland State (2007-13). Rick began coaching with Angie at Hampton.

A Pattern of Behavior Exposed

Former Georgia State student-athletes, Mallory Fletcher and Sophie Mooney, spoke with Softball On SI about their experience playing for Angie and Nick. Their stories triggered a chain reaction with former athletes from Hampton and EIU coming forward.

Kylie Bennett, a 2016 Second Team All-Conference selection as a senior at EIU, was tired of being “mentally abused” and didn’t like seeing her teammates treated the same way. 

“It was just a lot of mind games,” Bennett recalled. “She had my teammates watch what I was eating because she was telling me that I had an eating disorder. It was because I was an athlete, and I didn't want to eat their fast food that they would bring us on road trips. I didn't have any interest in going to Wendy's. So I would order a salad, and I would bring apples with me on the trip.”

Bennett told Softball On SI in a phone interview that Nicholson and her assistant coach, Stephanie Taylor, had raunchy personalities and would constantly make sex jokes.

“There were dildos on the bus one time, “Bennett said. “They would think it was funny to put it on the bus driver's seat and do all these really inappropriate things that they thought were funny.”

After suffering for nearly three seasons, Bennett started gathering support to speak to administrators about what was going on behind the scenes.

The 2015 EIU softball team. | EIU Athletics

Another EIU player, who also wanted to remain anonymous, remembered feeling uncomfortable when Angie would touch players to make them shimmy with their arms and chest.

“She was very physical,” the player said in a phone interview. “It was not what you would expect from a Division I coach. “It was supposed to be funny. But I remember there were players who obviously didn't think that it was funny, and you know, they crossed that line.”

These claims were also confirmed by two other former EIU student-athletes.

Once administrators were notified of Angie’s behavior, they began showing up to the field during practice, making their presence known to the program.

That’s when things took a turn for the worse.

After the first game of a doubleheader during the 2015 season, parents invited Rick to the parking lot for a tailgate. The EIU parents referred to their tailgates as board meetings, a tradition that was in place well before Angie was hired.

One of the parents, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, observed Rick walking and described a sudden outburst.

“He started yelling,” said the former EIU parent. “‘You're trying to get my wife fired.’ And a parent said, ‘What are you talking about?’ 
He says, ‘You're having these meetings to get my wife fired.’ The parent said, ‘I don't know what you're talking about.’ And he says, ‘We're going to go to the parking lot, and we're going to settle this. You and I.’

Both Bennett and Michelle Rogers spoke about the almost-fight as a memory that stood out.

Rogers, who was a freshman that season, told Softball On SI that she was aware of the upperclassmen gathering information to tell the admin. She also talked about Angie threatening her not to say anything to the administrators, or else she would be cut.

“During my freshman year, the upperclassmen were trying to get the coaches fired,” Rogers said in a phone interview. “They must’ve gotten word and called me to meet them at the field house. 

“I thought we were gonna be talking about softball. And I come in, and it's just us sitting in the field house, and they said they knew people were trying to get them fired, and word for word, Angie looked at me and said, ‘If you f– us, we f– you.’”

Softball On SI received a comment from an EIU spokesperson about the allegations.

“Eastern Illinois does not comment on personnel situations concerning current or former employees.  We can verify that Angie Nicholson served as the head coach of the Eastern Illinois softball team for the 2014, 2015, and 2016 seasons after being hired in the summer of 2013.  She resigned to pursue another professional opportunity in mid-September of 2016.”

The new job was at Hampton, where Cassidy Blackwell started as an outfielder. 

Blackwell’s early memories of Angie include a conversation in the dugout about her personal life.

“I thought it was inappropriate for her to talk about my sex life,” Blackwell said in a phone interview with Softball On SI. “I told her it wasn’t her place to tell me this.”

Blackwell did tell the coaches about two teammates who were bullying her and others. She ended up getting into a physical altercation with one of the bullies, but the coaches didn’t do anything about it.

“She just never cared about the girls that were getting bullied, and it wasn't just me,” Blackwell recalled. “One of my teammates was building a case and kept track of all the inappropriate things they would say, how they would talk to us. 

“One of the girls who bullied me, she ran and told Richard, and it messed up the entire thing.”

Blackwell provided Softball On SI screenshots of the journal, which draws parallels to allegations against the Nicholsons at EIU, Georgia State, and UMBC.

Screenshots of the journal Hampton players kept with concerns about Angie and Rick Nicholson. | Submitted

After Blackwell’s sophomore season, Rick told her she was going to be a team captain and a leader for the younger girls coming in. Days later, Angie called and revoked all of her scholarship money.

Blackwell was on a full ride and didn’t understand why or how Angie could take her money. When asked what the reason was, Angie told her it was for her freshman year grades.

“What the hell do my freshman year grades have to do with my sophomore year grades when I've improved, and I'm on the Dean's List right now? Blackwell remembered. “I was the first person at Hampton where they just cut and took their money.”

Angie told Blackwell she could still play at Hampton without the money, or she would help her find a new school. Blackwell declined her help and transferred out.

All four women who spoke to Softball On SI mentioned the Nicholsons' habit of making fun of student-athletes with disabilities, quick tempers, bullying tactics, and emotional abuse. The biggest takeaway is that 10-plus years later, all of them have been affected negatively and want to make sure neither Angie nor Rick hurts another student-athlete.

“If this will help them not be able to get another job somewhere, like that's what I want it to do because I don't want that to happen to other people,” Rogers said. “All I can think is if I had spoken sooner, maybe they wouldn't have been coaching anymore.” 

Softball On SI attempted to reach Rick Nicholson and did not receive a response. UMBC would not provide further comment.