Nick Verna has been a member of Furman’s coaching staff since 2021. In addition to coaching the tight ends, he also serves as the Paladins’ recruiting coordinator and NFL liaison.
In his role as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator, he has registered a notable impact on the program over the past four seasons.
He followed up solid work in his inaugural campaign with a stellar 2022 season, directing the fortunes of consensus All-America tight end Ryan Miller, who caught 72 passes for 762 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2022 to complete a superb career that saw him become first three-time All-American in Furman history. Miller’s 28 touchdown receptions marked a new school standard and also helped him collect invitations to play in the Hula Bowl and NFLPA All-Star Game prior to signing a free agent contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with whom he has seen action as a wide receiver the last two seasons.
Furman’s offense flourished in 2022 with Miller in the lineup, producing 33.3 points and 421.9 yards per game as one of the most balanced units in the FCS, all while keying Furman’s 10-3 campaign that netted a second round playoff appearance and consensus FCS Top 10 final rankings. Included in the season, Furman’s winningest since 2005, was a run of seven consecutive victories and five straight road triumphs — the most by the program in over 30 years.
In 2023 Mason Pline, another Verna product, proved central to the Paladins’ 10-3, Southern Conference championship campaign that included a quarterfinal round appearance in the FCS playoffs and No. 6 ranking in the final AFCA poll. Pline caught 32 passes and earned All-SoCon honors en route landing invitations to the Hula Bowl and East-West Shrine Bowl before signing a free agent contract with the San Francisco 49ers.
This past season Verna played a role in the emergence of true freshman tight end Jackson Pryor, a 2024 SoCon All-Freshman Team selection.
Verna came to Furman following four seasons as wide receivers coach at the University of Charleston (W.Va.), where he helped guide the Golden Eagles to a championship of the Mountain East Conference South Division in 2021. Fueling that success was the work of one of Verna’s top players, Michael Strachan, a seventh round selection by the Indianapolis Colts in the 2021 NFL Draft.
In his second campaign Verna oversaw a trio of All-Mountain East receivers, including Strachan, who broke Charleston’s single season receptions standard with 78 catches for 1,3109 yards and 19 touchdowns. Tremaine Ross followed with 44 receptions for 684 yards and six scores, and Xzavion Gordon finished with 31 catches for 509 yards and a score in Charleston’s 8-3 season.
Verna spent four years at the University of Akron as a defensive student assistant coach and defensive graduate assistant. In 2015 he was part of a Zips team that won a school record eight games and claimed the first bowl victory in program history — a 23-21 triumph over Utah State in the Idaho Potato Bowl. Two years later he played a role Akron winning the Mid-American Conference Eastern Division and berth in the Boca Raton Cheribundi Bowl.
Verna began his collegiate career at Erie (N.Y.) Community College, where he played quarterback before earning an associate degree in liberal arts. He went on to secure his bachelor’s degree in sport management from Akron in 2015 and added a master’s degree in public administration, also from Akron, in 2017.
