JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman women's basketball coach Mike Mincey announced Friday the promotion of Dusty Nickles to the lead assistant after long-time assistant Tatum Burstrom accepted a similar role at Coastal Carolina.
"We are excited to promote Dusty Nickles into the full time assistant position departed by long time player and assistant coach Tatum Burstrom," Mincey said. "Coach Burstrom has been with this program for 11 years and her record speaks for itself. Losing her knowledge of our team and this conference will undoubtedly be huge. She was always 100 percent committed to our program and players. Luckily I didn't have to look far for her replacement as coach Nickles has been on staff for the last two seasons and has shown to have the same qualities coach Burstrom brought to the bench for the last seven seasons.
"We've won two trophies in his first two years with the program and have averaged 22 wins per season. Coach Nickles knows the game extremely well and does a great job teaching it. He has complete buy in to our scheme and day-to-day operations but more importantly the players love having him as a coach and he loves being here. He does a great job relating to both our current players and potential recruits and he's just a fun person to be around. Like coach Burstrom, the players see coach Nickles as role model and someone they can trust."
Burstrom played four seasons with the Lady Eagles finishing her career in the top five of South Atlantic Conference history with 254 made three-pointers and became the 17th member of the school's 1,000-point club finishing with 1,234 points. As an assistant, Carson-Newman won four regular-season titles, two SAC Tournament crowns helping the team advance to its first-ever Elite Eight in 2018. In 2019, she was named to the WBCA's Thirty Under 30 list as one of nine Division II coaches to earn the laurel.
Nickles joined Mincey's bench prior to the 2021-22 season helping guide the program to a SAC Tourmament title in year one and a Mountain Division Championship in year two. In 2022, the Lady Eagles reached the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament setting the school record for biggest win in a postseason game beating Wingate 81-65 in the first round.
Five different players have earned all-conference honors in his two seasons including a pair of all-freshman team selections. The group is led by All-American Braelyn Wykle going 44-18 over the past two years posting a 32-10 mark in league action.
The Jefferson County native has experience coaching youth and high school basketball for over a decade most recently as the head assistant at Lakeway Christian Academy under Curtis Staples prior to his time at Mossy Creek. He was the head coach of a TN Trotters 16U exposure team during the spring and summer sessions.
Since 2012 he has been a part of the TN Trotters AAU organization founded by Jeff Kyle. The Trotters have played a major role in the development of girl's basketball in the East Tennessee area. Nickles has directly contributed to that over the last 10 years where he has coached, assisted and trained countless young women in their pursuit of playing college basketball.
He is married to former Lady Eagle, Whitney Nickles (Kyle). They have two children Jax, and Maverick. They live in Talbott and attend Grace Community Church. Whitney played two seasons at Mossy Creek after transferring from Morehead State where she played in 46 games with 17 starts.
Whitney started 52 of the 56 games from 2013-15 posting a career scoring average of over six points adding five rebounds and a steal per game. During her senior season, the program won 19 games guiding the Lady Eagles to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years.
Nickles is the third member of the family to play or coach at C-N as his sister-in-law, Ashley Kyle, played at C-N from 2006-10 and was an assistant for Mincey for two years from 2014-16. Ashley was a two-time all-conference pick and ranks 21st in school history with 1,136 points.
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