Scott Nickason
Head Coach

Scott is in his eleventh year with the Indians. He was a player for two years and now is in his ninth year as a coach, his third as the head coach. Scott is a local product and played for Santa Maria High School from 1987-1990. He moved on to Allan Hancock College for two years and played for the Indians during the summers. Scott continued his playing career at the University of Wyoming from 1993-1995.

Nickason began coaching during the summer months, while he was in Wyoming, as the head coach of the American Legion team Sweetwater County Miners. After his playing days, Scott became an assistant coach for the University of Wyoming, until the program was cut from the athletic program. Since Scott’s return to Santa Maria, he has served as an assistant coach for several local teams: Righetti High School, Allan Hancock College, and the Indians. He also founded Premier Baseball School to provide local athletes quality and professional baseball instruction, to improve skills in players, and to promote a better understanding of the knowledge and mechanics of baseball.

This is Scott’s fifth head coaching job and his second year as the Indians head coach. He served two years for the Sweetwater County Miners and won the State Championship in 1994. After serving as assistant for Righetti High School, he became head coach for one year in 2002 and won the league championship and was a Division I CIF semi-finalist. In 2003, as an assistant coach at Allan Hancock College, he managed the school’s summer team, Santa Maria Stars. Scott’s most rewarding head coaching job was when he coached at his alma mater in 2004. The team won its first league championship since Nickason played in 1989, and he was awarded the coach of the year for the area.

Scott is a physical education teacher at Righetti High School and is married to Cathleen. The couple have two children, Gillan, three, and Teagan, one.

Bryn Smith
Assistant Coach

Bryn Smith returns for another season to the Indians after serving as the pitching coach of the Salt Lake City Bees, the Triple-A affiliate of the Anaheim Angels. He previously managed the Santa Maria Indians in 2004 and returned to the Tribe in 2006.

Smith spent four years as a pitching coach in the Colorado Rockies organization for the double-A Carolina Mudcats (2001-2002). After his 18-year playing career, he returned to his hometown of Santa Maria as a volunteer assistant baseball coach at Allan Hancock College for the past four years. Smith has relished the opportunity to instruct in his hometown. He served as the head varsity baseball coach at St. Joseph High School between 1998 and 2000.

In 1994, Smith returned to Santa Maria to coach the Allan Hancock College Bulldogs, working alongside veteran Head Coach John Osborne, for whom he pitched in 1974. Smith, a 13 year major league veteran, posted a career 108-94 record (.535 winning percentage) in 365 games. He pitched for the Montreal Expos (1981-89), the St. Louis Cardinals (1990-92) and the Colorado Rockies (1993). A highlight season of his big-league career was in 1985 with the Montreal Expos, when he posted an 18-5 win-loss record and finished with a sparkling 2.91 earned run average. The biggest moment in his career, however, occurred on April 9, 1993, when he took the mound as the opening-day pitcher (at home) for the expansion Colorado Rockies in Denver. Bryn is married to the former Patty Bennett and the couple has two children, Cody (22) and Katie (11).

Jim Allen returns to the Santa Maria Indians for his third season, after serving as an assistant coach for Scott Nickason last year. Previously, Jim had coached the Santa Maria Stars for two seasons.

Jim is a teacher at Lompoc High School and has also served as the head varsity baseball coach for the past 5 seasons. Before Lompoc HS, Jim was an assistant for Rialto High School after graduating from Cal State San Bernardino.

Jim is married to wife Jennifer and they live in Lompoc with their two children, 5 year old Justin, and 3 year old Joslynn.

Terry Newby
Assistant Coach

Kevin Haughian
Cheif Executive Officer/General Manager

Haughian, a native of Berkeley, CA., is a graduate of Cal State Hayward and holds a Masters Degree in Public Relations from Boston University.

He began his baseball career with the Salinas Spurs of the California League in 1983 and at the age of 24 became the youngest General Manager in professional baseball. He remained in that position through the 1985 season.

After serving as a legislative assistant to a California State Assemblyman through 1990, Haughian returned to operate the Spurs in 1991, where he doubled the Spurs’ attendance from the previous year. Taking over the reigns of the Palm Springs Angels following the 1991 season, he orchestrated the two most successful years in franchise history. The Palm Spring club increased its attendance 40 percent in 1992 by drawing more than 92,000 and then drew an impressive 105,000 in 1993.

Following the 1993 season, Haughian managed the club’s relocation to Lake Elsinore, CA., and building of The Diamond at Lake Elsinore, repeatedly ranked by Baseball America as one of the finest stadiums in all of Minor League Baseball

In 1994, the Lake Elsinore Storm’s inaugural season, the team set a league attendance record of 357,123 for a first year franchise. In 1995, the Storm hosted the largest crowd to ever view a California League All-Star Game. By the end of his tenure in Lake Elsinore, the team also held the record for largest single-game attendance (7/4/98-12,876), had an average yearly attendance in excess of 330,000 and hosted the eight largest crowds in California League history.Haughian has been nominated on three occasions for the National Association of Professional Baseball League’s (NAPBL) prestigious Larry McPhail Promotional Trophy and has received both "Awards of Excellence" and "Executive of the Year" honors from the California League. In January 2000, Haughian became the first non-player to be inducted into the Lake Elsinore Storm Hall of Fame.

Haughian is most proud of the fact that over 20 former staff members from his franchises now hold executive positions at all levels of Minor League Baseball and in Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the NBA, the NFL and the NHL.

Kevin, his wife Kathy, and their daughter Sydney, who will turn five this June, reside in San Luis Obispo.

Jesse returns for his third year with the Indians, serving as a full time staff member. Last year, he was in charge of all media relations, team program, game day operations, stats, and sales. He is in his fourth year at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and is currently studying Recreation Administration with a concentration in Sports Management

Jesse’s sports experience started in 2001 at the age of 15, where he served as an intern in the Public Relations Department for the Newark Bears of the Independent Atlantic League in Newark, NJ.

Before beginning at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the fall of 2003, he attended San Ramon Valley High School in Danville, CA.

His professional aspiration would be to work in baseball, either in the front office or along the lines of player personnel and scouting.

Jesse is very close to his family, parents Kim and Len, and his two brothers Tony, who plays for the Milwaukee Brewers, and Tim, a recent graduate of UC Santa Barbara. Jesse resides in San Luis Obispo.