Nico Ruiz joined the UC Irvine Athletics department in 2022 with the women's soccer staff, and officially joined as a volunteer director of performance analysis ahead of the 2023-24 school year.

Ruiz, a Southern California native, was born in West Covina and started playing soccer in AYSO before continuing on to club soccer with Coast Soccer League, JUSA Select youth club earning 21 youth club tournament medals and three youth club league medals, and on to Ayala High School, earning Coach's MVP Varsity Award as a senior, and Cypress College. Ruiz graduated from Cypress with a degree in physical education before traveling to Colombia to play for Sarmiento Lora Soccer School affiliated with Deportivo Cali. He returned to the U.S. to play with Ventura County Fusion and then Genova International School of Soccer U23 team.

Recently, Ruiz has gone on to found the Footballers Academy which competes in the United Premier Soccer League. He is also certified as a scouting and game analysis specialist under the Make Better Professionals (MBP) School of Coaching and through the United Soccer Coaches under Sports Psychology and Individual Mental Skills, Passing Patterns and Functional Training, and 11 v 11 Formations and Systems of Play.