Nicklaus began his college football career at Bucknell University in 1924, playing for head coach Charley Moran, and transferred to Texas Tech University, where he was captain of the 1925 Texas Tech Matadors, the school's first football team.
Nickaus graduated from Texas Tech in 1928 and later coached football at Amarillo Junior High School.
[3] A year later, Nickaus moved on to Altus Junior College—now known as Western Oklahoma State College—in Altus, Oklahoma, serving as head football coach there for three seasons.
He led his junior college football teams at the two schools to a record of 34–5 in four seasons.
This biographical article relating to a college football coach first appointed in the 1930s is a stub.