James Madison women’s soccer Head Coach Joshua Walters, Sr. has announced on February 8, 2024 that Nicole Whitley has joined the coaching staff as an assistant coach.

"We had a very good candidate pool and met some fantastic people as part of the process,” said Walters. “In the end the committee and I were looking for someone who could bring some different skills and ideas to our program. Nicole emerged as someone who excited us because she has taken her high-level US Soccer, college and pro playing background and leveraged it to help players grow down to the individual level. She also has a strong belief in positional play and creating decision makers on and off the field. We are excited to introduce Nicole to the JMU family and look forward to her impact on our players and program." 

Whitley comes to Harrisonburg after spending the 2023 season as the volunteer assistant coach at Coastal Carolina. In Conway, she specialized in individual player development and technical based training while also handling traveling and domestic recruiting. She also had a hand in the graphic design and video editing for Coastal’s social media channels.

“I am honored to be joining the JMU community,” Whitley said. “After meeting Coach Walters and Donnenwirth, I immediately knew this program and university was something special. I am excited to begin my journey here and am committed to fostering a program that consistently embodies excellence in all aspects, on and off the field. I am extremely thankful to Coach Walters for this incredible opportunity to be a part of the women’s soccer program at JMU. Go Dukes!”

Prior to Coastal, Whitley was a soccer coach at Beach United Football Club, running daily sessions for U9, U13 and U17 boys and girls teams. She was in charge of providing fundamental soccer skills to players through specialize soccer drills and scrimmage activities and also organized soccer matches to put players in a competitive environment.

Before going into coaching, Whitley lettered at Rutgers from 2016-20. While there, she was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, was a two-time All-Big Ten Third Team selection, an All-Big Team Freshman Team selection, and a Second Team All-American selection. She received call-ups with the U18 and U20 United States Women’s National Team and was ranked inside the top 100 players and top 15 freshmen in the NCAA by TopDrawerSoccer.

During her career at Rutgers, she tallied eight goals and 20 assists while starting 52 of 63 matches she played in. Of the 20 assists, 10 came in her freshman year to set the Rutgers single-season freshman record and place her tied for third in the NCAA.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers in sports management (2020) and a master’s in sports communication and media from Iona (2022).