Frost promoted to head coach of Nicholls softball team, replacing departing Lewis

Ron Frost was the interim coach of the Nicholls softball team for all of two days.

His interim title was quickly removed when he was named the school’s head softball coach Saturday.

“We are so grateful to have Coach Ron Frost leading our program,’’ Nicholls Athletic Director Jonathan Terrell said in a statement released by the university. “In order to keep the continuity and culture moving forward, he is the best choice to continue to lead this team in the right direction. We are excited to see what the future holds for Colonel Softball with Coach Ron at the helm.”

“It’s an amazing opportunity that I couldn’t ask God for anything more,” said Frost. “It’s been a long journey to get here, but I’m super thankful for Justin (Lewis) and him bringing me along to help him build this program up and accomplish some amazing things.”

Lewis, the former Nicholls head coach who is heading to Kansas as an assistant coach, gave his seal of approval to the hiring.

“It’s the perfect decision,” Lewis said. “He’s a guy that has a great mind for this game. He works harder than anybody. The current players love him. The recruits love them. It’s a no brainer and it’s going to help keep a little sense of order in this time of transition.  He was the right guy for the job. I’m excited to see what he does with the opportunity.”

Frost, 33, joined Nicholls when Lewis arrived as head coach in 2022.

Inheriting a team that went 8-43 overall and 4-23 in conference play the year prior to their arrival in 2021, Nicholls went 12-38 the first year, including 4-14 in the Southland. The Lady Colonels saw dramatic improvement in the second season as Nicholls posted a 29-24 mark, including 13-11 in the SLC.

Nicholls concluded the 2024 season 31-26, including 16-8 in the Southland for a three-year mark of 72-88 record, including 33-33 in Southland Conference play.

Frost said he has learned a lot about running a softball program from Lewis.

“I learned a lot about what it takes to uphold the standard and to be there for the girls and be available for the girls and understand that your time is very, very important and that you have to put that end to them because they deserve it,” Frost said.

Frost has the right attributes for the Nicholls job, according to Lewis.

“He’s going to continue that blue collar work ethic. He’s always been a grinder and that’s really what it takes at Nicholls – somebody young like himself that wants to make a name for themselves. At Nicholls, with the lack of resources, you’ve got to grind at a different level than most jobs. That’s nothing he isn’t used to,” said Lewis.

A native of Atlanta, Frost played baseball at Alabama State and served as an assistant at the school before leaving coaching for a year. He served as an assistant at Veron College, a junior college in Texas, for four years before joining Lewis’ staff at Nicholls.

The Nicholls roster is filled with players from the state of Texas, a state where both Lewis and Frost were both assistant coaches before moving on to Nicholls. Both know the area well. Frost said Texas will remain a recruiting focus for Nicholls.

“We’re going to still recruit Texas. It’s the closest really big state next to us,” said Frost. “It’s really big and softball.

“So we’re gonna continue to recruit Texas, for sure. But we’re still going to do it on a national scale because we still had kids from California, Arizona, Montana, Oklahoma. So we’ve had kids from all over. We will continue to do that, but Texas will be one of our main places that we recruit, but also, we want to bring in some Louisiana kids as well. I think Louisiana softball is growing.”

Like with recruiting, they style of play employed by Nicholls under Frost is expected to be similar to what fans have seen in recent years.

“I think the main thing is just really staying aggressive on the base paths and staying aggressive at the plate and really focusing on attacking the zone from the circle as far as pitching, and just being really aggressive on defense and make the plays that we can make without putting ourselves at risk for errors or anything like that. Just really being aggressive and understanding that the game calls for certain things at certain times. Whenever we can understand that part of it, we’ll be successful,” the new Nicholls coach said.