Greg Nicol has been announced as the new coach of the Black Sticks Men.
On Thursday, Hockey NZ confirmed the former Olympian and South Africa representative will take the reins from Darren Smith, after the team's disappointing display at the Tokyo Olympics, where they finished second-last in their section.
Nicol is familiar with the Black Sticks set-up, having served as an assistant coach at both the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2018 Beijing Olympics. He also worked as an assistant for the Black Sticks Women at the 2012 London Olympics.
In 2017, Nicol helped establish a new national talent development programme as Hockey NZ's national pathway manager.
Now Hockey NZ's general manager high performance, Smith says: "After an extensive recruitment process we feel that Greg's strengths can bring this team to the next level. He is a direct and attack minded coach who has a clear and concise vision on how the team will play.
"Greg is a highly valued coach who was able to have a significant impact on the players through the Rio Olympic campaign."
Nicol represented South Africa at the 1996 and 2004 Olympics, amassing 200 caps and scoring a record 244 goals.
"With a Commonwealth Games next year, and a World Cup the year after, it's an exciting time to take on this opportunity to lead our men through this next phase," says Nicol.
"I'm looking forward to getting stuck in and building on the strong foundations that have been laid by Darren and the wider coaching staff.
"There is great work going on behind the scenes to make our high- performance programme the best it can be – HNZ has a clear vision and support structure to make this happen.
"Plus, I’m excited to see some familiar faces back in training."
