USC announces the passing of assistant coach Dave Nichol at 45 years old

Dave Nichol, who was hired in December as USC's inside receivers coach/associate head coach for offense, died Friday in McKinney, Texas, USC announced. He was 45 years old.

Nichol had been away from the team for an unspecified period of time, but it was only on Monday that the program made it public that he was dealing with a private medical matter.

TrojanSports.com has learned that Nichol was battling cancer.

“We are heartbroken and devastated,” USC football head coach Lincoln Riley said in a statement. “Dave was such a tremendous human being and a fantastic football coach. He absolutely loved the game and constantly poured his heart and soul into his teams. He will be dearly missed. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. We, as a program, look forward to playing and coaching for him as we move forward.”

RELATED: Lincoln Riley shares memories, pays tribute to Dave Nichol

Nichol is survived by his father, Robert Nichol Sr., and brothers Robert Nichol Jr. and family and Jimmy Nichol and family. Information regarding a memorial service for Nichol is pending.

Nichol and Riley worked together for three years at East Carolina, and also crossed paths at Texas Tech early in their careers.

Riley tweeted out, “My heart is broken. I met Dave Nichol in 2002. He gave me my shot to be a college player and coach. Taught me everything. Safe to say I wouldn’t be here without Dave.”

Riley’s tweet included an undated photo of Nichol with the USC staff, and tributes poured out throughout the afternoon and evening from fellow coaches and Nichol's former schools.

Nichol came to USC after serving as the inside receivers coach at Mississippi State the last two seasons after four years at Washington State.

Before that, Nichol was at East Carolina for four years from 2012-15, serving as the outside receivers coach for three seasons under Riley, who was the offensive coordinator there at the time. Nichol then took over as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2015 when Riley left for Oklahoma.

He spent 5 seasons (2007-11) at Arizona, starting as an offensive graduate assistant in 2007, working with the offensive line. He was promoted to outside receivers coach in 2008 and added the inside receivers in 2009. He began his coaching career as a student coach in 2000 and 2001 at Texas Tech, his alma mater, working with the quarterbacks and wide receivers. He then spent 2002 as the passing game coordinator, quarterback coach and receivers coach at Cisco (Texas) Junior College, 3 seasons (2003-05) at Texas Tech as an offensive graduate assistant and 2006 as an offensive graduate assistant at Baylor.

He was a wide receiver at Texas Tech, lettering in 1999.

USC announced earlier this week that Luke Huard, initially hired as an offensive analyst last month, had stepped in as the interim inside receivers coach.

It's not known when exactly Nichol learned of his cancer diagnosis or stepped away from USC. He was the only assistant coach who was not available to speak with reporters during a press conference to introduce the new staff in early February, but no details were given at that time for his absence.