Nick Bitter enters his seventh season as Co-Head Softball Coach at UVA Wise for the 2021 campaign. Working primarily with the team’s hitters, the 2020 COVID-19 shortened season was a banner year for Cavaliers at the plate. UVA Wise belted 26 homers in just 24 games while adding 33 doubles. Kaylee Jones finished the season hitting .446 with a 1.046 slugging percentage as she earned VaSID Softball Player of the Year.
Bitter collected his first career head coaching victory on April 12, 2015, when UVA Wise picked up a home sweep of Glenville State. During the 2018 season, Bitter earned his 100th victory as co-head coach in a game one sweep of Glenville State at Cavalier Field.
The co-head coach played an integral part in UVA Wise’s success during the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Guiding the Cavs back to the MEC tournament for the first time since 2014, Bitter led UVA Wise to a No. 4 MEC South seed in 2016. The Cavs went on a tournament run and advanced to the consolation bracket finals, finishing third in the league championship while eliminating both Wheeling Jesuit University and Concord University.
With the help of Co-Head Coach Bitter, the Cavaliers mounted on their 2016 campaign success to go on a historical run during the 2017 season. Reaching the 30-win mark for the third time in the past six years, UVA Wise concluded that season with an impressive 36-19 overall record. The team reached the Mountain East Conference Tournament title game after defeating then-seventh ranked West Virginia Wesleyan in the first game of the championship round. They would extend their season as the team became the first UVA Wise athletics program to earn an at-large bid into an NCAA postseason event and claimed the school’s first ever NCAA postseason win.
Prior to becoming co-head coach, Bitter served as an assistant for three and a half seasons, including being a member of the coaching staff that led UVA Wise to the inaugural Mountain East Conference Tournament Title in 2014. That season, the Cavs went 37-14 for the second-most victories in a single season in program history. As an assistant coach in 2014, Co-Head Coach Bitter helped six different Cavs earn MEC All-Conference honors, including Taylor Brandts, who was named MEC Pitcher of the Year.
As a pitcher at Delaware State, Bitter was named Outstanding Athlete of the Year in 2006 while also being a First-Team Black College Baseball selection for his work out of the bullpen.
Before coming to UVA Wise, Bitter served as associate head baseball coach at Washington College. In his role, he created and developed strength and conditioning regimens for both in-season and off-season workouts, while serving as the team's pitching coach.
Co-head Coach Bitter resides in Big Stone Gap with fellow co-head coach and wife, Karen, and their daughter, Riley and son, Kent.
