Nicholls athletic director Rob Bernardi announced the selection of Seth Thibodeaux as the new head coach of the baseball team.Thibodeaux was the assistant head coach under Chip Durham and has been with the Colonels for the past three years.

The hiring of Thibodeaux is pending the approval of the University of Louisiana Systems Board.

“Seth has helped recruit every single player on our baseball team and has played a major role in nearly every aspect of the program,” Bernardi said. “His familiarity with the team and the program was a big factor in choosing him as our head coach. We expect that Colonel Baseball will continue to advance under his leadership.”

The Church Point, La. native will serve as recruiting coordinator, hitting coach and infield coach for the Colonels.

“I’m extremely excited for many reasons,” Thibodeaux said. “I’m very grateful to the university for this opportunity and to Chip for all he did, including helping me become a better coach, and leaving this program in such good standing when he left.”

Thibodeaux was part of the coaching staff when the Colonels made their first postseason appearance in 10 years and their first postseason win in 12 years.

“When I first got here, Chip and I sat down and put together a plan,” Thibodeaux said. “We were going to focus on improving our recruiting, our academics and our facilities. We really stuck to those goals and we’re finally at a point now where we have a really good program.”

Thibodeaux helped lead Nicholls to several milestone accomplishments in 2010. The Colonels compiled a record of 27-29 in 2010, including a 15-18 SLC record.

Thibodeaux also helped Nicholls clinch its first 20-win season since going 22-31 in 2005; its first 10-win conference season since going 11-15 in the Southland in 2002; its first 25-win of the season since 2003;and its first 15-win conference season since going 15-12 in conference competition in 2000.

“We have the bulk of our position players returning,” Thibodeaux said. “We had a really good recruiting class for the third season in a row and we’re very excited about the product we’re going to put on the field next year. With the improvements we’ve made academically, athletically and with our facilities, everything is happening at a good time for this program. We’re all very fortunate for that.”

Thibodeaux has also helped the Colonels rebuild their program off the field by overseeing the team’s NCAA academic and compliance efforts.

After a previous APR score of 835, the Colonels surpassed the NCAA’s APR threshold of 925 for the first time in school history in 2010.

Before arriving at Nicholls, Thibodeaux served two years as an assistant coach at fellow SLC school Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond.

Thibodeaux helped put together two recruiting classes that received national recognition from Baseball America and helped Southeastern earn 34 wins, the Lions most in a decade.

Thibodeaux began his college coaching career at Pearl River Community College in 2003 and helped the Wildcats to conference and state championship titles as well as a No. 2 national ranking in 2004.

Thibodeaux played two seasons of college ball at LSU-Eunice in 2000 before transferring to William Carey College in Hattiesburg, Miss., where he finished his collegiate career and earned his degree in physical education.

After graduation, Thibodeaux played one season of professional baseball for the Baton Rouge Riverbats of the independent South East Professional Baseball League before starting his coaching career.