Meet Yarlie Nicolas, Memphis athletics' first 'head coach for mental health'

Last summer, Laird Veatch spotted something within the Memphis athletic department he wanted to address in short order.

The Tigers’ athletic director recognized the value of and a burgeoning need for a staff member solely dedicated to an oft-overlooked area of student-athlete wellness: mental health.

“We’re one of the few schools of our size that doesn’t have that,” Veatch told The Commercial Appeal in July. “It’s a key area that we need to elevate.”

Enter: Dr. Yarlie Nicolas. On Thursday, the school announced the native Bostonian has been named its first assistant athletic director mental health and sports performance. That intersection has become a critical focal point for sports across all spectrums, including collegiate athletics. Conducted in late 2021, an NCAA survey found 45% of men’s sports participants and 53% of women’s sports participants reported feeling that mental health was not a priority to their athletic department.

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Nicolas, who has more than a decade of clinical experience working in private practice, corporate trainings, organizational leadership, education and crisis-intervention and community mental health, will report directly to Marlon Dechausay, senior associate athletic director of student-athlete welfare. A graduate of Florida Atlantic University – where she majored in psychology and minored in sociology – Nicolas has a clear vision for what she wants to accomplish at Memphis.

“I’m really a big advocate of humanizing and creating a safe space for our student-athletes,” she told The Commercial Appeal. “A lot of times, we don’t think about the relationships and the stressors and how it all impacts performance. We just see them in uniform instead of their human side. Yes, you feel better, you play better. But we want to zoom out a little bit.”

While Nicolas’ job consists of hearing and, in some cases, amplifying the voices of Memphis athletes in all sports, she will also emphasize the systemic side of the athletic department’s mental health efforts. In essence, "the head coach for mental health."

“Like, what influences you to feel better? A great relationship with your coach. A coach’s great relationship with their athletic director,” she said. “There’s a system that goes on that impacts the overall performance.”

Personal, firsthand experience provided the spark for Nicolas to pursue this line of work. During her time as a student at FAU, she was in a relationship with a college football player, which opened her eyes to some of the types of things athletes have to deal with. But, Nicolas said, it crystallized for her during her time as a sports marketing intern working closely with NFL and NBA players. Specifically, her work with the Jason Taylor Foundation – run by the former all-pro defensive lineman – solidified the course of her career.

Nicolas is in the midst of implementing an overarching theme at Memphis. She calls it the three B’s.

“Be, breathe and build,” she said. “I want to create a space where athletes and coaches can come and be their authentic self, breathe – in other words, learn strategies to manage stress and work on coping skills – and build a connection with the community here in Memphis.”

“The way she has connected with our student-athletes and coaches in a short period of time has been amazing, and the partnerships she is building on campus and within the community will allow us to provide the best care for our student-athletes,” Dechausay said in a press release.

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Meet Yarlie Nicolas, Memphis athletics' 'head coach for mental health'