Nick Ziccardi joined the Penn State men's golf program in January 2021 and enters his fifth season on staff in 2024-25. Ziccardi came to Happy Valley after spending four years as an assistant coach for the men’s golf program at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.
Ziccardi has helped mentor 10 All-Region honorees, an All-Big Ten selection, two NCAA Regional individual qualifiers and seven GCAA All-America Scholars throughout his first four seasons at Penn State.
Ziccardi was involved in all aspects of the Pacific’s program with collaborative responsibilities for organizing practices and qualifying events to recruiting and resource management. He also worked hand-in-hand with the West Coast Conference on the planning, organization and execution of the 2019 conference championships to ensure the event met NCAA standards.
The Buffalo, New York, native started his journey as a coach at St. Lawrence University where he served as an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s programs. In addition to his duties with team practices and workouts, he also handled many aspects of student-athlete recruitment. During his two years in Canton, New York, the Saints recorded eight team wins, seven student-athletes won individual titles and two claimed Liberty League Player of the Year honors.
Ziccardi earned his master’s degree in educational leadership in 2016 while at St. Lawrence. He received his undergraduate degree in business management from Northwood University in West Palm Beach, Florida (now Keiser University) in 2014, where he was captain of the Seahawk squad as a senior. He began his collegiate playing career at Oklahoma Christian University where he was a member of the Eagles’ NAIA National Championship in 2009.
While attending graduate school, Ziccardi also gained coaching experience as camp staff member at the Nike Golf Camp at Williams College in 2015, and also spent four summers from 2015-19 as a coach at the Stanford Junior Golf Camp.
Ziccardi has a Trackman University Level 1 certification and certificate of completion of a kettlebells fundamentals course.