Colonel Sports

Nicholls State University

Nicholls State University College of Education

220 Polk Hall

P.O. Box 2053
Thibodaux, LA 70310
Phone: 985.448.4326
Fax: 985.448.4926

Nicholls State University, founded in 1948, is a public university located in Thibodaux, Louisiana, USA. Nicholls State is part of the University of Louisiana System of universities. Originally called Francis T. Nicholls Junior College, the institution split from the Louisiana State University System in 1956. The university is named for Francis T. Nicholls, a Confederate general, former governor of Louisiana, and member of the Louisiana Supreme Court.

The 210-acre campus, once part of historic Acadia Plantation, fronts on Bayou Lafourche, about 50 miles southwest of New Orleans and 60 miles southeast of Baton Rouge.

Nicholls is located in Acadiana, also known as “Cajun Country,” an area rich in tradition and culture. It is also located in the heart of the Mississippi River Delta, allowing easy access to the river, its distributaries, Louisiana’s wetlands, and the Gulf of Mexico. The school is sometimes referred to as “Harvard on the Bayou;” the university bookstore even sells shirts sporting this light-hearted nickname.

Nicholls is the home of the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute.

Nicholls State sports teams participate in NCAA Division I (Football Championship Subdivision or FCS for football) in the Southland Conference.

Nicholls State’s colors are red and gray (two-tone) and the athletics teams are nicknamed the Colonels (men) and Lady Colonels (women).

On November 19, 2005, the No. 24-ranked Nicholls Colonels football team clinched its first Southland Conference Championship by defeating the McNeese State Cowboys 39-26 at John L. Guidry Stadium. With that win, Nicholls finished the regular season tied atop the conference standing with Texas State. The Colonels advanced to the Division I-AA playoffs as the conference champion, based on their 32-29 overtime victory over then fifth-ranked Texas State, but eventually lost to the then No. 3 ranked Furman Paladins, 14-12, in Paladin Stadium in Greenville, S.C.

Nicholls State currently has no physical mascot. The colonel is still used only in name. President Stephen Hulbert stated that “The Colonel is and will remain the mascot designation for Nicholls State University and its intercollegiate athletics program” on March 31, 2004 while calling the current Colonel depiction antiquated and reminiscent of the Civil War in the South. Hulbert unilaterally retired the mascot despite a vote by students and alumni to retain it, and a student contest to select a new mascot failed.

The Nicholls State University Department of Athletics currently sponsors men’s intercollegiate baseball, basketball, football, golf and tennis along with women’s intercollegiate basketball, softball, soccer, tennis, track, golf, volleyball and cheerleading.

Nicholls’s primary rival is Southeastern Louisiana University.

And don’t miss the annual

Homecoming Golf Tournament