"Nicole Degenhardt is one of the most unprofessional, narcissistic, manipulative coaches I have ever met. This only was Nicole unprofessional, but the university as a whole is a problem. The athletic department has no supported its student athletes after many complaints of this coach, as well as her coaching staff. Not only has the ruined my mental health, but she has ruined so many others mental well being as well. Nicole was so focused on winning that she put the wellbeing of her athletes on the back burner. There have been so many instances when student athletes have had mental health issues, physical injuries, and their overall state, and she pretends to care, but does nothing to change. Nicole has belittled me personally and other players based on the size of their body. I understand as athletes we need to be physically in shape, but there is a difference in motivating someone, versus telling them to "eat a steak" or that they aren't a certain body size. Mental health is also a joke to this coach. Not only have i been diagnosed with mental disorders since coming to gcu, so many other athletes have as well. I could go on and on about all of the negative things about this coach, but it is not even worth my time anymore. If you take this one piece of advice, do not play for Nicole. "

"I recently had the unfortunate experience of being under the guidance of the softball coach, and I must say that it was nothing short of a SHIT SHOW!! From the very beginning, it was evident that the coach lacked the necessary skills and dedication to effectively train and lead the. Firstly, the coach’s lack of technical knowledge and expertise in softball was glaringly apparent. Their inability to provide proper guidance and constructive feedback hindered our individual and team progress. We rarely received any meaningful coaching that could help us improve our skills. The coach seemed to play favorites, which created a toxic and demoralizing environment within the team. Overall, my experience with this softball coach was highly unsatisfactory. Their poor communication, lack of expertise, inconsistent disciplinary measures, and lack of motivation contributed to her failures as a coach. I would strongly advise anyone seeking quality coaching and a positive team environment to look elsewhere. She needs Mental health evaluation!"

"Terrible Coach!!!! Very bad attitude she only cares about advancing her own career. Don’t send your athlete to GCU or any college with this coach!"

"Players think what they’re getting themselves into is going to be the best time of their college experience, just to find out it is a nightmare. Going through this program is something I do not want to wish upon anyone. I highly do not recommend committing to a program where it is disorganized, manipulative, and you are lied to. "

"The only reason Nicole Degenhardt gets one star rating is because this poll doesn’t allow zero stars. There is something to be said about a coach who has a winning team two years in a row and then goes to a losing record. Some of her players end up in the portal or flat out just quit. Nicole Degenhardt is condescending, vindictive, demoralizing and just a mean person. She absolutely does not care for her players. She only cares about her record. Will tell potential recruits exactly what they want to hear and upon arrival she reveals her true self. In all my years of coaching and playing I’ve never seen a worse excuse for a coach. I can’t stress this enough, do yourself a huge favor and DO NOT PLAY FOR NICOLE DEGENHARDT. I use her full name because she doesn’t deserve the title of Coach! "

"Nicole is a 5/5 to her favorite 3/30 player’s but a 1.5 to everyone else. She’s dedicated to softball and winning and doesn’t care about the athletes what so ever. She acts like she cares, but doesn’t. You don’t get an off day and if you do it’s either fundraisers or camps. If you want to go from being perfectly fine to ending up in a mental hospital then I would recommend you to play for her. You will get mentally abused by her. When you try to build a relationship with your teammates and make it more like a family she tries and turn you against your own teammates. She will make up a lie just to get you mad at your teammates. I wouldn’t say that she does it on purpose, it’s just her personality. She has bipolar tendencies and “I’m not a doctor” but I think that she should get that checked out. I hope she learns from her past experiences with people coming in and out of her program. If at least 15 people don’t quit each year that is a surprise. I feel bad for freshman that think they will have a great experience because they all end up quitting. It goes from 20 freshman at the beginning to 5 in the end. She recruits amazing people, some of the best people that I have met in my entire life but she ruins their life. College is too expensive to waste your time playing for her when you can either play for someone else that cares about you or simply get a job. "

"terrible experience I do not recommend to anybody."

"I had an awful experience with this coach during my time at GCU. She belittled her athletes to the point that 9 people quit after fall semester my freshman year. There was no care in the world for mental health. The team culture was awful in itself because she had favorites who turned into her spies and got more time and respect on the field because of that. I lost my love for the game, until I transferred and was able to remember why I even played in the first place. One memory that sticks out for me in particular was one of the girls on the teams grandmother died, and she was unable to attend the funeral because “she had softball obligations.” If anyone were to check her APR score of how many athletes go in and out of that program, they may start to question her lack of knowledge in mental health and how she treats her players. Overall to me she acted more as if she was still a 20 year old on the team than a coach. Awful experience and thankful I got out when I did."

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