The 2016-17 season is Nick Booker’s seventh year as a member of the UC Irvine basketball staff and his sixth as an assistant coach with the Anteater program. Booker was promoted to assistant coach prior to the 2011-12 season after serving his first season as the team's director of operations, in which he assisted the basketball coaching staff with travel, purchasing, film exchange, community service and handled many of the day-to-day office duties.
Booker's responsibilities as an assistant include the following: skill development, academic monitoring, recruiting, on-court coaching (defensive emphasis), and summer camps. Booker is involved in the player-development process and has helped seven players earn All-Big West Conference accolades in his tenure at UC Irvine.
Booker also plays a vital role in the performance of Anteater players in the classroom by working directly with UC Irvine’s academic support center to ensure the players’ obligations are met. In his career at UC Irvine, Booker has helped sign, and maintain eligibility, of arguably the best recruiting classes in UC Irvine history.
In the 2015-16 season, the Anteaters registered a school-record 28 wins and also set new UCI marks for non-conference victories (15) and road wins (13). The team advanced to the championship game of the CollegeInsider.com (CIT) postseason tournament and the Anteaters had an RPI as high as 41 (best in school history) during the regular season and a final RPI of 68.
Booker was also involved in the school’s historic 2014-15 season when the Anteaters won the Big West Conference Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time. The Anteaters fell to three-time national champion Louisville by just two points in an NCAA Second-Round game at Seattle, Wash.
What may go unnoticed are Booker’s efforts in helping the Anteaters become one of the most feared defensive teams in the nation. In the past four seasons, UC Irvine has ranked in the top 25 in field goal percentage defense, including third this past season.
He was also key in the development of Will Davis, who was the 2015 Big West Tournament MVP, 2013 Big West Defensive Player of the Year and two-time all-conference performer, along with being selected to participate in the 2015 NBA Summer League team for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Booker joined the Anteater staff after serving three seasons as an assistant coach at powerhouse community college, Saddleback College. Booker was instrumental in helping recruit and develop several All-State players, and the team earned the California Community College State Championship in 2009.
He graduated from Davidson College in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in History. He was a member of the Wildcats’ team under current Davidson College head coach Bob McKillop. Booker was a starter for the 2002 Southern Conference championship team that competed in the NCAA Tournament against Ohio State.
A native of San Diego, Calif., where he earned four varsity letters at The Bishop’s School, Booker is married to the former Jamila Ewell, who played collegiate soccer at the University of Wyoming. They have three children, Philip, Kaleb, and Ella.
