June 1, 2001

By Renee Carlson
Fort Collins Coloradoan

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Two weeks ago, Tom Collen and Nicki Taggart became husband and wife. Thursday, they became co-workers.

Collen, the head coach of the Colorado State University women's basketball team, hired Taggart - now Nicki Collen - as an assistant coach. Nicki will start Aug. 1 after she finishes coaching two local select teams through the summer.

This is the same position she held at CSU in the 1999-2000 season before resigning when she and Collen began to have a relationship. Once they got married, Collen said the administration approached him about the opportunity to have Nicki on the staff once again.

"The fact that we're married lends stability, and I think that makes a big difference," Collen said. "There certainly are added concerns for a husband and wife to coach a team, but I'm not sure the pitfalls are any different than having good, stable relationships and open communication with your other assistants.

"It just has to be business as usual."

They won't be the first husband-wife pair to coach a Division I women's basketball team. The most prominent example is at Washington, where June Daugherty is the head coach and husband Mike is an assistant.

Tom and Nicki aren't the only related coaches in CSU's athletic department. CSU coach Sonny Lubick recently hired son Matt Lubick as the Rams' recdeivers coach.

Nicki will fill the vacancy created by Raegan Scott's resignation. Scott is getting married in July and plans to become a teacher for the deaf. The final spot on the staff - created when associate head coach Curt Miller left to become the head coach at Bowling Green State University - will be filled in the next month or so. The fourth coach is assistant Carter Shaw, entering his second season with the team this fall.

"I feel like we re-hired a really quality assistant," Collen said. "She's very good at what she does. I really think she's going to make the program better."

Nicki spent the past year working in sports marketing and serving as color analyst for the Rams' radio broadcasts. She said that while she didn't expect to return to CSU as a coach, she looks forward to the opportunity.

"It's so cliche-ish to say that you don't know how much you enjoy something until it's gone, but it's true," Nicki said.

Her main responsibility will be recruiting, and other duties will involve on-court coaching, scouting and academic support. Nicki played collegiately at Purdue and Marquette, where she earned a degree in mechanical engineering. She played professionally in Greece after college.

"Nicki has a strong grasp of what it takes to succeed both as a student-athlete and as a coach at the major college level," Collen said. "That type of experience is going to benefit the players in our program as well as the members of our coaching staff."