Andre Foster was hired to lead the women's and men's volleyball programs on January 18th, 2024
Most recently, Foster completed his first season with the Nichols women's program, earning his first win with the team on September 3rd over Elms College (3-0). The top highlight of the 2024 women's season came on November 2nd, where the Bison pulled of a massive upset victory over conference opponent Wentworth Institute of Technology, defeating the Leopards by a final score of 3-1. The Bison were then able to close out the fall campaign in the win column, sweeping another conference foe, Curry College, 3-0 at home.
Prior to the 2024 fall, Foster opened his tenure in the spring with the men's program, guiding them to their most successful season in team history with a 24-5 (7-0 NEVC) overall record. The year was highlighted by the program's second consecutive New England Volleyball Conference Championship title, along with an at-large bid into the NCAA National Tournament, making the program the first team in Nichols College history to do so. Following the season, six players received All-NEVC recognition, including Player of the Year Jack Normandin and Defensive Player of the Year Cade Bernardi, while Foster himself was named the NEVC's Coach of the Year. Three of the All-Conference honorees were also honored with AVCA All-Region I recognition, while Normandin garnered AVCA All-American distinction as an outside hitter, becoming the first player to do so.
Additionally in 2024, Foster was also added to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top-20 voting committee.
Foster returned to his Alma Matter after spending two seasons as an assistant coach with the Xavier University (NCAA DI) women’s volleyball program. As an assistant in 2022, Foster and the Xavier staff were the recipients of the BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year honors for guiding the Musketeers to a 21-12 overall record, along with a third-place finish in both the BIG EAST regular season and BIG EAST Tournament, and a trip to the NIVC Quarterfinals in 2022. Foster was also one of a select few coaches to receive the 2022 American Volleyball Coaches Association Diversity Award.
In addition to working with Xavier in 2021, Foster also served as the head coach for Empowered Volleyball Academy. Prior to his time with the Musketeers, Foster was a volunteer assistant coach at UC- Davis, and also served as the head coach for OMNI Volleyball Club in 2020-21
Foster is a native of Davis, California and played collegiate at the University of Charleston (2015-17), Mount Ida College (2017-18) and Nichols College (2018-20). He earned a bachelor’s degree in sport management from Nichols in 2019 as well as a master’s in business administration in 2020. In 2024, Foster joined the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Awards Comittee.
