Saah Nimley prepares for his eighth season at Charleston Southern and his third full season as the program’s head coach entering the 2026-27 campaign. He was officially promoted to the role on March 4, 2024, after serving as the team’s interim head coach beginning in November 2023 following the announcement of Barclay Radebaugh stepping away from the position. Nimley joined Radebaugh’s coaching staff in the summer of 2019 after previously spending four seasons as a playing member of the program from 2011-15. Prior to the 2023-24 season, he was elevated to Associate Head Coach.
Several statistical categories saw major jumps from Nimley’s first head coaching season (2024-25) to his second (2025-26). At the conclusion of the 2025-26 Big South regular season, Charleston Southern led the nation in made three-pointers with 374 after converting just 227 during the 2024-25 campaign. The team’s nine non-conference victories marked the program’s highest total since the 1985-86 season. The Buccaneers also set several single-season program records during the 2025-26 campaign, including most made three-pointers (383), best two-point field goal percentage (55.9%), lowest opponent three-point field goal percentage (30.5%), and most blocked shots (156).
Also during the 2025-26 year, another name was added to the list of Nimley's players who have earned conference awards — A'lahn Sumler. Sumler established himself as one of the premier players in the conference, finishing first in the league in both points and assists per game. Those stats earned him a place on the league's First-Team.
As an assistant coach, Nimley served a defensive coordinator styled role. In the 2020-21 season, he was pivotal in developing Phlilandrous Fleming Jr., who was second in the conference in steals and sixth in the conference in blocks.
Of all the Buccaneers that Nimley has played a crucial part in developing and identifying, there is no greater example than the 2024-25 Big South Player of the Year, Taje’ Kelly. Kelly, an Atlanta-area native like Nimley, was identified by his future head coach during his high school days as a Grayson Ram. After his junior season (2023-24) in Charleston, Kelly had built up a body of work on the court and in the classroom that could have propelled him to a high-major program in the modern NCAA transfer portal era. Kelly, wanting to further evolve his skill set in preparation for his senior campaign, cited his relationship with Nimley as an integral piece of the puzzle that eventually resulted in him playing his fourth and final year of college basketball in a CSU jersey.
During Nimley's first year on the sideline (2019-20), the Bucs pulled off their first Power 5 win since he was donning the Buccaneer blue and gold - a 68-60 win over Missouri on Dec. 3, 2019. Fleming Jr. was also named the Big South Defensive Player of the Year after a stellar season while Deontaye Buskey and Travis Anderson had breakout campaigns. CSU finished the 2019-20 season with a run to the Big South Conference Tournament quarterfinals nearly pulling off an upset of top-seeded Radford.
A 2015 CSU graduate, Nimley is the Bucs' all-time assists leader and third-leading scorer. The Lawrenceville, Ga., native remains the only player in Big South Conference history with over 1,800 points and 500 assists. He made his pro debut with Nevezis Kedainiai, a Lithuanian team, in the Baltic League in 2015-16.
Nimley played catalyst to one of the most successful stretches in CSU men's basketball history. He led the Bucs to NIT berths in 2013 and 2015. As a freshman in 2011-12, Nimley finished as runner-up for the Big South Freshman of the Year award as CSU captured its first winning season in 16 years.
He capped his CSU career with a magnificent senior campaign in 2014-15, earning Big South Player of the Year honors after ranking fourth nationally in both scoring and made three-pointers per game. His performance also garnered him Honorable Mention All-America status from the Associated Press. Nimley scored 30 or more points seven times and was the only player in the nation to record four consecutive 30-point efforts.
Nimley married Marley Brown in the summer of 2024 and the two welcomed their first child, Nasir, during the summer of 2025.
