Head Coach | BRENT HARING

Nicholls State University Vice President for Athletics Jonathan Terrell announced Brent Haring as the Colonels' new baseball head coach on Wednesday, June 26.

Haring spent last season as LSU's Baseball Director of Operations. Prior to his stint in Baton Rouge, he spent multiple seasons at BYU. He was promoted to associate head coach for BYU in June 2022, coordinated the Cougars recruiting operation, worked with the infielders and supervised team defense for 10 seasons.

Haring was part of a staff at BYU that developed 34 All-West Coast Conference honorees, nine All-Region honorees, five Freshman All-Americans and three All-Americans.

Haring has also served as head coach for the American Samoa National Team and its various divisions since 2010. In January 2019, the team defeated Australia, ranked No. 7 in the world, and took second place at the Oceania U-18 Baseball Championship in Guam.

Haring played for Colorado Northwestern Junior College and at Southern Virginia, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2007 in physical education and recreation administration. He also earned a master's degree in 2009 in education/kinesiology from Harding University. A native of St. George, Utah, Brent and his wife Mary have two sons, Tomasi and Nikolao.

Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coord. | gabe woods

Gabe Woods enters his 4th season with the Colonel Baseball program as the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator. He served his first season as hitting coach in 2024 leading the Colonels to one of its top offensive seasons in school history. The Colonels hit .303 as a team with 127 doubles, 13 triples and 64 home runs. Also Woods lead the colonels to the most steals in the last 4 seasons.

Woods served as the volunteer assistant for  Nicholls during the 2021-23 seasons. Prior that Gabe served as an assistant coach at St. Thomas Aquinas in Hammond, La. He helped to lead the Falcons to a 28-6 overall record and an appearance in the state semifinals in 2021. Before coaching at STA, Woods served as the head coach of Albany High School for three seasons (2017-2019), leading the Hornets to three straight district titles and three consecutive playoff appearances.

Woods played collegiately at Ole Miss, Meridian Community College, and finished his final two seasons at Southeastern Louisiana University in 2013-14. While at Southeastern, he helped the Lions to a conference championship and first regional appearance in 20 years.
 

pitching Coach | drew finley

Drew Finley comes to Nicholls to serve as the Pitching Coach for the Colonels following a three year stint as LSU. The former Top 10 prospect for the New York Yankees was drafted by the club with the 92nd overall draft pick in the third round of the 2015 First-Year-Player Draft out of Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego, Calif.

In his first season with the Pulaski Yankees, the right-hander sported an ERA of 3.94 in 12 starts with 41 strikeouts, prompting a move up to the organizations Single-A affiliate. Notably, in his sophomore season debut with the Staten Island Yankees, Finley threw a no hitter – the second in franchise history. In November 2018, he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for outfielder Tim Locastro.

Prior to his professional career, Finley was lauded by USA Today for having “possibly the best breaking ball in the high school ranks” and was originally committed to playing at University of Southern California.

He set a California D1 state single-game record with 20 strikeouts, pitched the winning game at the Perfect Game All-American Classic, and was ranked as the 24th, 57th, and 61st best prospect in the 2015 MLB Draft by Keith Law, MLB.com, and Baseball America, respectively.

Finley’s life has always centered around baseball. The son of Los Angeles Dodgers Vice President of Amateur and International Scouting, David Finley, Drew grew up attending games of all levels across the nation, had a front row seat at spring training camps, and was given the opportunity to learn from players, coaches and team personnel every aspect of what builds a team.

Finley, a 2023 National Champion, served under three of the top Division 1 pitching coaches while at LSU. Their mentorship along with the connections he has will impact the player development immediately. Drew was apart of the development of many MLB Draft Picks at LSU, most notably #1 overall pick Paul Skenes and top prospects Ty Floyd, Grant Taylor, Luke Holman, Gage Jump, and Thatcher Hurd.

assistant Coach | brandt jones

Brandt Jones has joined Brent Harring’s coaching staff as the new volunteer assistant coach. Jones will be responsible for coaching the catchers and assisting Coach Gabe Woods with the hitters and base running. Additionally, he will handle administrative duties and camp coordination.

Jones comes to Nicholls after serving as an assistant coach at Pearl River Community College in Poplarville, MS. He helped lead the Wildcats to a 49-10 overall record last season, including a Region 23 conference championship and a regional host.

Before coaching at PRCC, Jones served as the graduate assistant coach at Southern Miss for two seasons (2022-2023,) assisting the Golden Eagles to two conference championships, two regional championships, and the program's first two Super Regional hosts in program history.

Prior to coaching, Jones spent three seasons as a catcher for the Golden Eagles (2018-2021.) He earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Jones is married to the former Katelin Salley, and the couple resides in Thibodaux, LA.