David Nies joined the Miami Hockey coaching staff in May 2024 and became the program's general manager in June 2025. Nies, who served as recruiting coordinator for the RedHawks during the 2024-25 season, came to Miami after serving as the United States National Team Development Program's Assistant Director of Player Personnel.
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In his first season with the RedHawks, Miami started unbeaten in its first four games, highlighted by a sweep of Alaska Anchorage, before going on to finish ninth in the competitive National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC). The Red and White’s 29-man roster produced a program-record 24 NCHC Academic All-Conference selections (3.0 or better cumulative GPA) and 16 Distinguished Scholar-Athletes (3.5+ GPA), while Miami captain Ryan Sullivan was named a finalist for the conference’s Sportsmanship Award. The ensuing offseason saw the RedHawks’ recruiting class and transfer portal additions both ranked among the top 10 in the country by Neutral Zone.
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During his time with the USNTDP (2023-24), Nies was involved in all aspects of identifying, scouting and recruiting players in the 2008 and 2009 birth classes. He had previously served as an assistant coach under Anthony Noreen with the USHL's Tri-City Storm (2021-2023).
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In Nies' time at Tri-City, the Storm won the Anderson Cup in 2021-22, bolstered by the top-ranked penalty kill in the league. Nies oversaw the penalty kill and was responsible for defensemen development, in addition to assisting Noreen in all facets of team management.
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Nies' previous stop, also in the USHL, was with the Omaha Lancers, where he served as associate head coach and assistant general manager from 2018-2021. He has coached with Amarillo in the NAHL (2017-18) and been part of college coaching staffs at Merrimack College (2016-17), Curry College (2015-16), Ohio University (2014-15) and the University of Southern Maine (2013-14).
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Before coming to Oxford, Nies scouted and coached a total of 33 NHL draft picks and 133 Division I college players in his various stops. He worked as an on-ice skills coach with NHL Draft picks Jordan Harris, Sam Colangelo, Michael Kesselring and Alex Jefferies.
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As a player at Southern Maine, Nies was an ECAC All-Academic honoree from 2010-2013 and served as the Huskies' team captain from 2011-2013. He owns a Bachelor's degree in Criminology from USM and a Master's in Sports Pedagogy from Ohio.
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