Chip Durham enters his sixth season rebuilding the Nicholls State University baseball team after turning in one of the Colonels' most successful seasons in recent history in 2010.
Nicholls heads into 2011 fresh off the Colonels' first trip to the Southland Conference Tournament in ten years. In 2010, Durham led the Colonels to a 27-29 record, including a 15-18 Southland record. Nicholls clinched its first 20-win season since going 22-31 in 2005; its first ten-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. The Colonels finished just three wins shy of their first 30-win season since 1993.
Durham led the Colonels to their first postseason win since 1998 when No. 8 seed Nicholls scored the biggest upset of the 2010 Southland Conference Tournament by opening the event with a 13-2 run-rule shortened victory over consecutive regular season champion, No. 1 tournament seed and eventual tournament champion Texas State.
Under the direction of Durham and his coaching staff, the Colonels produced their third Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft Selection in two years when Nicholls' junior Clint Dempster was selected in the 16th round by the Minnesota Twins.
In 2009, Durham led the Colonels to nearly doubling the team's overall and conference win totals from the previous year, and the Colonels produced a pair of major league draft picks in Chris Murrill and Dale Dickerson. The 2009 Colonels also established themselves as one of the best pitching staffs in the conference, finishing fourth in the league in team ERA. The 2009 version of the Colonel squad also notched one of the biggest upsets of the year in college baseball when the unranked Colonels knocked off then No. 1 ranked LSU at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge by a score of
Durham came to Thibodaux after spending three years as the head baseball coach at Crowder College. During his three-year stint with the Roughriders, Durham compiled a 94-84 overall record and had eight players go on to sign with major Division I programs, two NCJAA All-Americans, five NJCAA First-Team All-Region XVI players, as well as four players get drafted in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.
During his first season at Crowder, Durham guided the Roughriders to a fourth place finish in the NJCAA Region XVI Tournament. He followed that up with a third place finish in 2004 and was runner-up during this past season. Prior to his stint at Crowder College, Durham served as an assistant coach at Northeast Texas Community College for two seasons working with the hitters and infifi elders, while also coaching third base.
Durham served as the recruiting coordinator and was instrumental in recruiting former Colonel outfielder and 2006 Major League draft pick Bubba Bell, who played two seasons at Northeast Texas CC.
Durham got his first taste of the Southland Conference in 1998, when he served two seasons as an assistant coach at Texas-San Antonio under former head coach Mickey Lashley. While working with hitters and infielders, Durham helped guide the Roadrunners to a third place finish in the 1999 SLC Tournament. Durham began his full-time coaching career in 1996 as an assistant coach at the University of Arkansas working with the infielders and hitters, while coaching third base.
During his two year stint in Fayetteville under former head coach Norm DeBriyn, the Razorbacks finished second at the Southeastern Conference Tournament in 1998 and went on to finish third in the 1998 NCAA Division I Midwest Regional Tournament.
As a player, Durham prepped at Tioga High School in Tioga, La. where he won back-to-back Class AAA State Championships in 1986 and 1987. He went on to letter two years at Angelina Junior College in Lufkin, Texas and finished out his collegiate career at the University of Arkansas-Monticello, where he served as team captain for two years.
A resident of Tioga, La., Durham earned his bachelor's of science degree in health and physical education from Arkansas-Monticello in 1994 and went on to earn his master's in health and physical education in 1996 from Delta State University. Durham is married to the former Angie Thurman of Eureka Springs, Ark. The couple has four children.
