Nic Cantrell recently completed his second season on the women’s basketball staff and fifth as a full-time assistant basketball coach at Tarleton State University.
In 2021-22, Cantrell helped put together one of the most impressive turnaround seasons in NCAA Division I, improving the Texans' win total by seven year-over-year. Tarleton went 16-13 overall, including an 8-10 conference mark. The Texans finished seventh in the WAC and had the largest improvement of wins year-over-year in the conference (not including Dixie State, who played in just three games the year before). The Texans put 10 new players on the court year-over-year, improving greatly in defense and rebounding. They had the second best scoring defense in the WAC, allowing just 59.2 points per game, forcing opponents to the fifth worst field goal percentage in the conference at .379. On the boards, Tarleton had the fourth best rebounding margin. The Texans rolled through their non-conference slate, which boosted them to their first winning season as a NCAA Division I program. They went 8-3 to start the year, with wins over Oral Roberts, Incarnate Word, and the College of Charleston.
Cantrell transitioned to the women’s basketball program ahead of the 2020-21 campaign and Tarleton’s debut Division I season. The Texans won five of their final nine games, enjoyed a four-game winning streak throughout February and earned their first true Division I win against UTRGV on Jan. 27. With Cantrell serving as the lead assistant coach, Tarleton led the WAC in free throw percentage (.727) and ranked inside the top-half of the conference in three-point field goal percentage defense (3rd, .306) and scoring defense (4th, 62.8 PPG).
He previously spent 10 years with the men’s basketball program – three as a player and seven as a coach. On the men’s side, Cantrell was a student assistant coach from 2008-10, graduate assistant from 2010-12 and promoted to assistant coach for the 2012-13 season. In his seven seasons on the bench, Cantrell helped the Texans to a 152-63 record and five 20-win seasons. The Texans appeared in four NCAA regional tournaments, won a Lone Star Conference Championship and an LSC Tournament Championship with Cantrell on staff.
Cantrell is a member of the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC) as well as the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).
Prior to his Tarleton coaching career, Cantrell played for the Texans from 2005-08, going 70-24 in his three seasons. In his first season in 2005-06, Cantrell and the Texans went 27-7 and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight and finished the season ranked No. 13 by the NABC. In the 2007-08 season, Cantrell and the Texans finished 25-7 overall and earned the No. 1 seed in the South Central Regional, which the Texans hosted in Stephenville that season. Tarleton finished the season as a regional championship finalist and notched a No. 15 season-ending ranking by the NABC.
As a player at North Mesquite High School, Cantrell was a TABC preseason all-state selection and first-team all-district as a junior and senior. He graduated from North Mesquite High School in 2005 and earned his bachelor's and master's degree in Kinesiology from Tarleton.
He married a former Tarleton women’s basketball player, Kimberly Smith-Cantrell. They have a daughter, Aubrey, and a son, Jaxon.
