PHILADELPHIA – La Salle head men's basketball coach Darris Nichols announced his coaching staff for the 2025-26 season on Friday. Colin Curtin, James Haring, and Shane Nichols are joining the Explorers, while Brody Dempsey, Mike Doyle, Nick Lorensen, Joe Mihalich, and Justin Rey will be retained from the previous staff. Additionally, Safet Kastrat returns to La Salle as the program's first-ever general manager while also serving as an assistant coach.
 
"I am proud of the staff we have built here at La Salle," said Darris Nichols. "We have a strong mix of familiar faces, as well as new blood, both to myself and to the La Salle family. I am confident this is a group that will recruit and coach the toughness and grit myself and our fans expect."

Shane Nichols follows his younger brother from Radford where he was an assistant coach. He takes the associate head coach position with the Explorers. Before starting with the Highlanders in 2021, he spent six seasons at mid-major power Murray State which included three consecutive Ohio Valley Conference regular season championships (2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20) and two straight OVC Tournament titles (2017-18 and 2018-19). While with the Racers, Nichols notably recruited and developed All-American and future All-NBA selection Ja Morant.

Prior to his time at Murray State, he spent several years as an assistant for Joe Mihalich at both Niagara and Hofstra. He began his coaching career at his alma mater, Wofford, where he helped the Terriers earn a berth in the 2011 NCAA tournament. While playing for the Terriers, he was a multi-time All-Conference guard and played professionally overseas.
 
A Philadelphia native, Curtin arrives at La Salle after spending 12 seasons in several roles with the Hofstra Pride. He is reunited with Mihalich, who Curtin served under for over a decade at Niagara and Hofstra. Curtin spent time as director of men's basketball operations, assistant coach, and special assistant to the head coach with the Pride.

During his time with the Pride, he helped Hofstra to over 200 wins, including a school record 27 in 2018-19, his time with the team included seven 20-win seasons, four regular season CAA titles, four postseason appearances, and the 2020 CAA Championship. Before joining Hofstra, he served as director of basketball operations at his alma mater, Niagara, for four seasons.
 
Haring comes to Philadelphia after spending four seasons on Darris Nichols' staff at Radford. A veteran of the Atlantic 10 Conference, Haring spent three seasons at the University of Dayton as director of basketball operations. During his time with the Flyers, his teams twice made the postseason and put together the most complete season in recent A-10 history in 2020, as the Flyers went 29-2 before the season was suspended due to COVID-19. Before his time in Ohio, he spent time as director of basketball operations for Jacksonville State and Illinois. As an undergraduate, he was a manager on Bob Huggins' staff at West Virginia.
 
Kastrat returns to 20th and Olney with previous experience under Nichols as Director of Player Development at Radford. Kastrat spent the two seasons prior to 2024-25 on Fran Dunphy's staff at La Salle as video coordinator before being promoted to director of recruiting. In his later position, he oversaw the evaluation of prospects, identifying key players such as Mac Etienne, Deuce Jones, and Corey McKeithan. While at Radford, the Trenton, N.J. native maintained the recruiting database and served as director of recruiting for all camps.  
Additionally, assistant coach/director of basketball operations Mike Doyle will return for his seventh season after beginning his career as a graduate assistant in 2019-20. Doyle has now worked with the last three head coaches at La Salle. Special assistant to the head coach Joe Mihalich will also return in the same role. Mihalich, a La Salle graduate, previously had Curtin and the elder Nichols as assistants on staff during his time as a head coach at Niagara and Hofstra. Graduate assistants Brody Dempsey and Nick Lorensen will also return, in addition to performance coach Justin Rey.