Nicki Gross joined the Vanderbilt men’s basketball program as the special assistant to the head coach in April of 2019 and the 2023-24 season is her fifth with the Commodores. Gross arrived at Vanderbilt after spending the 2018-19 season as a basketball analyst with the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies.

“She’s my right hand,” said Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse.

Gross oversees the day-to-day organization of the head coach, assists with opponent scouting and special projects, organizes practice plans and facilitates staff execution.

Gross has extensive basketball experience in the NBA and G League, where she served as the assistant coach with the Iowa Energy in the 2015-16 season and the Raptors 905 franchise from 2016-18, where she was a member of Stackhouse’s staff. She was also the Energy’s head video coordinator in 2014-15 before being promoted to an assistant coach position. At the time in 2015, Gross was the only female coach in the NBA G League and third in its history, following assistant Stephanie Ready (2001-03) and head coach Nancy Lieberman (2009-11).

She also worked with the NBA Summer League for four seasons from 2013-16, where she helped in all matters of operations for the yearly event.

A 2011 magna cum laude graduate of Seton Hall, she was a four-year letter winner for the Pirates in women’s soccer. Following her time at Seton Hall, she earned her master’s in business administration from Monmouth, where she ran track and field in 2011-12 and worked with former Commodore assistant coach King Rice as a graduate manager in 2012-13 with the men’s basketball team.