J.P. Piper amassed a 134-224 overall record through 12 seasons at the helm of the Nicholls basketball program.
Despite losing the team’s lone senior to injury prior to the regular-season, Piper coached a young Colonels squad to the programs’ seventh-consecutive Southland Conference Tournament appearance in 2014-15. Nicholls fought through an injury-plagued season and came on strong over the tail end of its conference schedule, earning the sixth seed at the tournament.
Becoming just the fourth head coach in team history to have tenure last at least nine seasons, Piper led the Colonels to a record sixth-consecutive conference tournament berth during the 2013-14 season.
In 2012-13, with a mix of upperclassmen leadership and influx of youth, Piper led the Colonels to the fifth seed in the tournament – the highest placing for the squad since the 2008 season. Under his watch, Fred Hunter was selected as a first team All-Southland guard, as well as first team All-LSWA, USBWA All-District and second team NABC All-District.
With the second youngest team in the country in the 2011-12 season, Piper helmed a squad that only had one win through the first half of Southland play, before rallying the team to win five of their last eight games to make an appearance in the conference tournament for the fourth straight year. It’s the third time in program history that Nicholls has made the postseason tournament in four straight years, and with his fifth-straight double-digit winning season, ties coach Ricky Broussard for the second-longest streak in coaching history.
In 2010-11, Piper guided the Colonels to their fourth straight double-digit win season and third straight appearance in the SLC Tournament. It’s the third time in Colonel history that the team has made at least three consecutive appearances in the tournament since joining the league in basketball.
Under the direction of Piper and his coaching staff, departed Colonel forward Anatoly Bose finished ninth in the nation in 2010-11 with a 22.1 point/game average en route to being named Louisiana Basketball Player of the Year, first team All-Southland Conference and NABC first team all-district. Bose finished as the leading scorer in Nicholls history racking up 2,051 career points in his four-year career.
In 2009-10, Piper led the Colonels to their third consecutive double-digit win season and their second consecutive SLC Tournament appearance. The Colonels' 2010 tournament berth marked the first time that the team qualified for consecutive postseason berths since Nicholls qualified for three straight tournaments from 1998-99 through 2000-01.
Piper engineered one of the strongest regular seasons in school history in 2008-09, leading the Colonels to a 20-11 record and a 12-4 Southland mark. The 2008-09 season marked the second 20-win campaign since Nicholls moved to Division I in 1980-81, and the first one since 1994-95. The Colonels produced three SLC postseason honorees in Ryan Bathie (First-Team All-SLC), Anatoly Bose (Third-Team All-SLC) and Fred Hunter (Freshman of the Year).
In 2007-08, Piper led Nicholls to a 10-21 record and a fifth-place finish in the Southland’s East Division. Under Piper's tutelage, the Colonels traveled the country to face some of the toughest competition in the nation in No. 1 North Carolina, Alabama, Florida State and California.
Piper has gained a reputation for playing some of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country, dubbed 'scheduling insanity' by ESPN's Andy Katz. CollegeInsider.com named Piper the 2006-07 Southland Conference Coach of the Year for leading the Colonels to victory in five of their last seven SLC match-ups and falling just one point shy of a conference tournament berth.
Before being named head coach at Nicholls in 2004, Piper served two seasons as the top assistant for the Colonels (2002-04) under the direction of head coach Ricky Blanton.
Prior to joining the college ranks, the Baton Rouge, La. native held the position of head basketball coach at The Dunham School (Baton Rouge, La.) where he guided the Tigers to a Class A State Championship in 1997-98 and the Class A State Runner-Up spot in 1998-99.
Piper was named Class A Coach of the Year in 1999 and was selected as head coach of the LHSAA East All-Star Team. Piper's leadership was evident off the court as he served as principal of The Dunham School for three years and President of the Louisiana High School Basketball Coach's Association for two years.
Prior to his eight-year tenure at The Dunham School, Piper served as an assistant men's basketball coach at East Ascension High School in Gonzales, La., for two seasons. The 49-year-old is married to the former Renee Denson of Baton Rouge. They are the parents of two children, Hayden (18) and Riley (16). Piper and his family reside in Thibodaux.
