Nichols College Athletics

Dale Olmsted begins his tenth season as the head football coach at Nichols College in 2023.

The Bison won four games in 2022, highlighted by a thrilling 71-55 win over Dean on September 9. Four student-athletes earned Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) All-Conference nods under Olmstead this past season, as Joshua Vitti and Derrick Revolus were named to the First Team, and Hayden Olmstead and Colby Bernier received Second Team nods. Revolus and Vitti were named to the All-Noontime New England Football First and Second Teams, respectively, while Revolus also earned a spot on the D3Football.com All-Region 1 Team.

The Bison – who saw the 2020 campaign cancelled due to COVID-19 – saw five student-athletes earn CCC Football All-Conference honors last fall while Tyler Goodman received the Senior Perseverance and Achievement Award. Additionally, six were named to the Worcester Area Football Association (WAFA) All-Star Teams and 17 garnered CCC Academic All-Conference honors – a record under Olmstead.

The 2019 campaign saw the Bison reach the six-win mark for the second time in four seasons and come within one win of their first bowl game appearance since 2000. The season was highlighted by a 25-15 win on Homecoming Weekend over Salve Regina – the Bison’s first over the Seahawks since 2009. The win left them at 3-1 for the first time since 2007. Five student-athletes received CCC Football All-Conference honors while seven were named to the WAFA All-Star squad. Additionally, 11 student-athletes grabbed academic all-conference honors.

The Bison posted a three-win improvement in 2018, finishing with a 5-5 mark that including wins over CCC Football rivals Becker (23-15), Curry (39-29), and UNE (42-24). As a result, five Bison received CCC First Team honors while Olmsted was tabbed WAFA Coach of the Year honors for the second time in three seasons. Eleven student-athletes received CCC Academic All-Conference honors.

Nichols opened the 2017 campaign 2-0 for the first time since 2000, and the team finished the season with three student-athletes on the CCC All-Conference Team and the WAFA All-Star Team. Brett McEvoy, meanwhile, graduated as the program’s all-time leader in tackles and punt yards. Eleven student-athletes garnered CCC Academic All-Conference honors following the season. 

The Bison broke through with their most successful season in more than a decade in 2016, posting a 6-4 record and winning their final four games – all against New England Football Conference (NEFC) foes. The Bison set program-records for total yards (4,420) and touchdowns (40) in a season, and produced four All-NEFC performers: First Team picks Tony Martignoli (WR) and Matthew McEvilly (LB), and Second Team selections Chris Mullins (QB) and McEvoy (LB). Thirteen Bison were named to the NEFC Academic All-Conference Team while McEvilly was named the recipient of the Joe Zabilski Award as the best defensive player in New England at the Division III level. Following the season, Olmsted was named WAFA Coach of the Year.

In 2015, the Bison had a pair of NEFC All-Conference picks in Brett McEvoy (First Team) and Derrick Warren (Second Team). Four student-athletes were named to the Worcester Area Football Association All-Star Team while 15 student-athletes garnered NEFC Academic All-Conference honors.

Olmsted saw eight student-athletes named to the NEFC Honor Roll in 2014. Additionally, three student-athletes were selected to the WAFA All-Star Team while both Robert Ricci & Joe Richardson competed in the National Bowl.

Olmsted came to Nichols by way of Millis High School in Millis, Massachusetts, which competes in the Tri-Valley League. Olmsted took over a program that had a total of three wins in three seasons before his arrival, and after going 5-6 and 3-8 following a merger with Hopedale in 2009, has since qualified for the state playoffs in three-consecutive seasons (2011-13) under his guidance.

A two-time Metro West and TVL Small Coach of the Year (2011-12), Olmsted was named the Boston Globe Division 4 Coach of the Year in 2011 after coaching Millis to a 10-1 mark, the TVL Small School Division title, and the state playoffs. The following year, the Mohawks went 8-3 and captured their second-straight TVL Small School Division crown. Following the season, Olmsted was an assistant coach for the South in the 2012 Shriners All-Star Game.

Olmsted played for legendary high school coach John Lee at Walpole High School, then migrated south to Salem College in West Virginia, where he played safety for former West Virginia and Michigan and current Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez, who was his defensive backs coach, in 1987. He transferred to West Liberty State College the following year after the program at Salem was eliminated.

Following his playing days, Lee contacted Olmsted to gauge his interest in becoming a coach. Olmsted spent the next eight years as a coach at Walpole – two as an offensive and defensive assistant (1992-93), five as the offensive coordinator (1994-98), and one as defensive coordinator (1999). During that span, he helped the Rebels capture three Super Bowls.

Olmsted left Walpole in 2000 to become the assistant head coach/offensive coordinator at Dedham High School (2001-02), where he inherited a two-win program and turned them into an 8-3 team in his final season. Following one-year assistant coaching stints as the offensive and defensive coordinator at Braintree H.S. (2003) and King Philip H.S. (2004), respectively, Olmsted became the head coach at Millis in 2005.

Olmsted served as the head coach at Millis – a program with a great history which had fallen on hard times – from 2005-08. In 2009, Olmsted discovered the school – which features approximately 150 boys in grades 9-12 – had only 18 committed players for the upcoming season. The athletic directors at Millis and nearby Hopedale High School, along with the MIAA, allowed the two schools to merge their programs. Millis/Hopedale went 5-6 in 2009 and 3-8 in 2010 before breaking through in 2011. The merger ended prior to the 2013 campaign.

Olmsted represents the Tri-Valley League as a member of the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association (MSHFCA). He was the New England Patriots 'Coach of the Week' during week three of the 2008 campaign. Beginning in 2019, Olmsted will serve as the chair for CCC Football and now vote on the American Football Coaches Association Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll.

Olmsted resides in Walpole with his wife, Lisa, and children Alex, Hayden, and Julia.