Nick Conte, a former standout punter at the University of Virginia, enters his third year on the VMI staff and will again work with the Keydet kickers, punters, and snappers.
In spring, 2021, Conte coached and developed two new freshmen performers in the kicking game - placekicker Jerry Rice and punter Jack Culbreath into a solid special unit that helped VMI to a SoCon championship.
He also mentored long snapper Robert Soderholm who was named 2021 Spring First Team FCS All-America by Stats Perform.
In 2019, Conte coached senior punter Reed King, who helped the punt unit climb 61 spots nationally from the 2018 season to achieve a 35.28-yard net, which was a six-yard improvement from 2018. He also helped supervise sophomore long snapper Soderholm, who earned Hero Sports 1st Team Sophomore All-America honors. His mentorship also helped senior place kicker Grant Clemons earn back to back SoCon Special Teams Player of the Week honors following weeks 6 and 7 for his performances against The Citadel and Samford.
Conte was a two-year starter at punter for Virginia in 2015 and 2016 and led the ACC in punting while earning All-ACC first team honors in 2016 after ranking 17th in the nation. He currently holds the UVA career punting average mark and also ranks third best in ACC history in career punting average.
Conte graduated from UVA with a B.A. in Human Biology and earned UVA and ACC Academic Honor Roll all eight semesters. He later earned a Masters of Higher Education with a focus in Sports Administration at the University of Virginia.
Conte participated in several rookie minicamps on the NFL level including the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, and Washington Redskins.
After graduation, Conte also served as a specialist coach at Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke and served an internship in private business with Davis. H. Elliott Construction Company.
