Nick Wilson was officially named the head coach for the Canisius cross country and track programs on Oct. 20, 2025.
Wilson is veteran coach with 12 years of collegiate coaching experience, including eight as a head coach. He started his coaching career in 2013 when he was hired as the graduate assistant coach at the University of Rio Grande, an NAIA school located in Rio Grande, Ohio. After spending two years (2015 and 2016) as an assistant coach at Valley City State University in Valley City, N.D., Wilson was hired as the head cross country coach/assistant track coach at Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Ky., in 2016. He held that title until 2018, when he was promoted to serve as the director of track and cross country, a position he held through 2024.
In his time at Lindsey Wilson, he led the Blue Raiders to three conference championships and coached multiple NAIA national qualifiers, while expanding the roster to 95 student-athletes, boasting a better than 80 percent roster retention rate. His teams at Lindsey Wilson set 22 school records in his time in charge, and the cross country program there was regularly ranked in the national NAIA poll.
At Georgia State, Wilson doubled the women’s cross country roster while using just one scholarship, and he also worked with the school’s sprint, jump and throwing recruits during his time in Atlanta.
Wilson earned his bachelor’s degree in sports and exercise from Rio Grande in 2013 and later went on to earn his master’s degree in athletic coaching leadership from the University in 2015.
