UMBC Fires Softball Head Coach, Assistant Who Are Married to Each Other

Eighteen games into her first season leading the UMBC Retrievers, Angie Nicholson was fired. So was her husband, assistant coach Rick Nicholson, after parents of players accused him of inappropriate physical contact with two student-athletes and of threatening to cut a player who objected.

According to parents of three players who spoke to Baltimore Sun reporter Edward Lee, Rick Nicholson brushed the chest of two different softball players while attempting to swat away insects, on two separate occasions. When the second player objected to the contact, Rick Nicholson scolded the player. "He walked into the dugout and threatened to cut the player, which was overheard and reported by an observer," two parents told Lee. The parents spoke on condition of anonymity, citing concerns that their daughters could face reprisals.

The firings were reported by the Baltimore Sun on Monday morning. The two coaches are married and have two daughters on the team, Kenzie and Taylor Nicholson, both of whom remain on the UMBC roster. Angie Nicholson was hired by UMBC Director of Athletics Tiffany D. Tucker in August 2025, coming to UMBC after one season as head coach at Norfolk State University. The parents confirmed that Rick Nicholson was fired on Tuesday and Angie Nicholson was dismissed on Sunday evening. Both were removed from the UMBC athletics website shortly after the Baltimore Sun's report was published.

The Retrievers had already canceled their last six games, including a three-game America East conference series against Binghamton, leaving the rest of the 2026 season in jeopardy. UMBC also called off mid-week matchups against Niagara and Mount St. Mary's before the reasons behind the cancellations became public. Whether the rest of the season will be played as scheduled remains unclear; the Retrievers were supposed to play their next game on Saturday, but no softball practices had been set for the week.

The firings leave the team with just one coach, Jill Haines, who is in her first year at UMBC after spending last season as an assistant pitching coach at Marymount University. Despite having only one coach on staff, parents said athletic director Tiffany D. Tucker did not provide the team with any clarity after a team meeting on Sunday.

The roster itself is fractured. "They said they don't know what's going to become of the season," one parent said. "They did not want any of this to happen. But there is a faction that wanted this to happen. So, this team is divided." The divisiveness stems in part from the presence of Kenzie and Taylor Nicholson, the coaches' daughters, on the roster, with one group of players aligned with the Nicholson family and another opposed.

Neither Rick nor Angie Nicholson issued a statement, and UMBC did not respond to a request for comment.

The softball program's upheaval arrives at a fraught moment for UMBC athletics. The university fired athletic director Brian Barrio in April 2024, at which point it issued a statement declaring that "those who were identified as failing to comply with their Title IX obligations, whether through action or inaction, will be held accountable." Barrio sued UMBC in federal court in August 2024, alleging he was forced out and scapegoated after reporting abuse by another university figure. Meanwhile, men's lacrosse coach Ryan Moran has been on administrative leave since at least October following a review prompted by a bullying and sexual misconduct allegation made by one player against a teammate. University officials have offered little public explanation in that case, frustrating lacrosse parents as well.

For the Retrievers softball program, the immediate question is whether a season that started in February will survive March.