Nate Bollinger, promoted to Associate Head Coach following American's Patriot League Championship season in 2024-25, joined head coach Duane Simpkins' staff in April of 2023.
Bollinger serves as the Eagles' offensive coordinator, specifically working with the team's guards. He also serves as the program's recruiting coordinator while coordinating non-conference scheduling and overseeing the team's academic progress. He was named to the 2024 100 Rising Stars: Men's Mid Major Assistants list.
In his second year, the Eagles made a historic run, winning the 2024-25 Patriot League Championship and earning the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014. American finished 22-13 overall and 13-5 in the Patriot League, matching the program’s all-time record for league wins in a season. The championship was clinched on the Eagles’ home floor at Bender Arena in front of a packed house, capping off a season in which AU led the Patriot League in home attendance for the first time in over a decade. The team hit a program-record 299 three-pointers, and ranking third in the PL with 8.5 three-pointers made per game.
Three Eagles earned postseason honors, with Matt Rogers earning All-PL First Team recognition, point guard Elijah Stephens earning All-PL Third Team, and sophomore Greg Jones being named to the PL All-Defensive Team.
In his first season as an assistant coach at American, the Eagles finished tied for second in the Patriot League, matching their third-highest regular season PL win total since 2012 with 10 wins, and had three All-Patriot League selections. American was ranked in the top-120 offensively midway through his first season at AU before finishing with the second overall offense in the PL, and the Eagles were ranked 53rd nationally in three-pointers per game, 90th in assist-to-turnover ratio, and 88th in turnovers per game. American finished atop the PL in three-pointers made while ranking second in assists per game. American also hosted a Patriot League Quarterfinal game for the first time since 2020.
On the academic side, the team finished with a 3.19 GPA in Bollinger's first season and improved it to 3.26 in his second. The Eagles earned the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award in 2024, with nine players earning Patriot League Academic Honor Roll distinctions in both 2024 and 2025, while Rogers was named to the Patriot League All-Academic Team in 2024 and graduate student Lincoln Ball earned the same honor in 2025.
Bollinger joined American from William & Mary where he spent four seasons serving as the program’s director of operations for two years before being promoted to assistant coach prior to the 2021-22 season. During Bollinger’s first season with the Tribe in 2019-20, William & Mary posted its most regular season wins since 1950 with 21. The Tribe also set a school record with 10 road wins and 13 wins in Colonial Athletic Association play, finishing second in the league regular season. Over his three seasons, Bollinger was a member of the Tribe staff that produced a CAA Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, three All-CAA players, three CAA All-Rookie choices and four CAA All-Defensive Team selections.
In 2018-19, Bollinger was an assistant coach at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., where he served as the team’s offensive and recruiting coordinators. During his time at Saint Vincent, he helped the Bearcats to a 22-5 record, a Presidents Athletic Conference regular season title, and helped coach the league player of the year Tom Kromka. He was named to the NABC 30-Under-30 list, which represents 30 of the most outstanding men’s college basketball coaches under the age of 30.
Bollinger spent three seasons as the Director of Player Development at High Point University from 2015-18 where he was heavily involved in all day-to-day operations with the team, including scouting, video breakdown, skill development, recruiting and game/practice plans. In his first season in 2015-16, the Panthers compiled a 21-11 overall record and won the Big South regular season championship. Bollinger helped in mentoring five all-conference players and four 1,000-point scorers at High Point, including 2016 Big South Player of the Year John Brown, who was also an honorable mention All-American.
Bollinger got his coaching start at Divison III York College in Pennsylvania where he spent the 2014-15 season. Bollinger served as the program's top assistant and recruiting coordinator while managing camps, operations, player development and serving as the staff's lead opponent scout.
During his career, he has also worked with The Hoop Group in 2014-15 and 2018, assisting with camps, on-court coaching, and skill development.
Bollinger played collegiate basketball at Division III Delaware Valley College for two years before transferring to Division II Millersville University. He helped Delaware Valley to a Freedom Conference Championship and the program’s first trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament in 2011. As a team captain in 2012, Bollinger was named second team all-conference and set a single-game school record with 50 points against Wilkes University on Jan. 28, 2012.
After two seasons at Delaware Valley, Bollinger transferred to Millersville where he averaged 5.4 points per game in helping the Marauders to a 32-25 record with two trips to the conference tournament. Bollinger was a team captain for Millersville as a senior and finished his collegiate career with 989 points. He earned his bachelor's degree from Millersville in psychology in 2014.
