Josh Nicoloff joined the San Diego State baseball staff as an assistant coach in September 2026.
A native of Rancho Santa Margarita, California, Nicoloff coaches the Aztec outfielders and assists with hitters.
Nicoloff makes the short trip across town after a two-year stint at the University of San Diego, where he was promoted to assistant coach for the 2026 campaign after serving as the Toreros’ director of baseball operations in 2025.
With Nicoloff on staff, USD captured the 2025 West Coast Conference regular-season championship and ranked second in the league that season in batting average (.285), hits (565), on-base percentage (.391) and fielding percentage (.975).
During his tenure, the Toreros garnered five first-team all-WCC accolades, four second-team all-conference plaudits, three all-league honorable mentions and one WCC Defensive Player of the Year selection.
Nicoloff arrived in San Diego from his alma mater, Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Orange County, where he served as the Eagles' hitting coach for two seasons in 2023 and 2024.
With Nicoloff on board, Santa Margarita Catholic posted a school-record 29 victories in 2023 and claimed its first-ever Trinity League Championship. His tutelage continued to be vital in 2024, when the Eagles slashed a program-best .303/.422/.811 as a team.
Nicoloff has also coached in summer collegiate leagues, working as the hitting coach for the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters of the Northwoods League (2023) and the Menlo Park Legends of the California Collegiate League (2024).
A collegiate player, Nicoloff witnessed success at both Columbia University (2018-21) and Kansas State (2022). As a freshman in 2018, he helped the Lions capture the Ivy League championship before earning all-conference honors as a sophomore in 2019. Additionally, Nicoloff led the team with a .394 batting average as a junior during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, topping the squad in hits, total bases, and stolen bases before the remainder of that season and the entire 2021 campaign were canceled due to the pandemic.
In 2022, Nicoloff transferred to Kansas State as a graduate student, where he was an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award finalist at second base. Nicoloff started all 58 games that season, belting seven home runs with 27 RBIs while compiling 12 multi-hit games, a 13-game hit streak and a team-high 19-game on-base streak.
As a prep, Nicoloff was a three-year letterwinner at Santa Margarita Catholic High, earning Trinity League All-Star honors in 2016 before receiving Orange County All-Star South recognition in 2017.
Nicoloff graduated from Columbia with a degree in political science.