Josh Nilson was named head women's gymnastics coach on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, agreeing to a five-year contract.

Nilson takes over the reins after serving as Illini associate head coach the past two seasons, helping lead the program to back-to-back NCAA Regional Round 2 appearances while having four gymnasts compile All-Big Ten honors. 

Nilson arrived in Champaign in May 2023 after serving five years as head women's gymnastics coach at Temple University. While at Temple, Nilson led the Owls to three straight conference titles – the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) championship in 2019 and 2020 and the East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) championship in 2021. The lone coach in Temple history to win a conference title in women's gymnastics, Nilson was named ECAC coach of the year in both 2019 and 2020.

On the heels of its third consecutive league title, and first as a member of the EAGL, Temple qualified for NCAA Regionals in 2021 for the first time in 29 years, achieving its highest ranking in program history at No. 30. For his efforts, Nilson was named 2021 Northeast Region Coach of the Year by the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association. 

Prior to his first head coaching stint at Temple, Nilson spent the 2017-18 season as assistant coach at the United States Air Force Academy, helping guide the Falcons to their highest USA Gymnastics Collegiate National finish in seven years. That followed a 2016-17 season at Penn State, where Nilson began as assistant coach before serving as co-interim head coach in the final months of the season. 

He returned to his alma mater in 2013 to begin a three-year term as assistant coach at Utah State. During that time, the Aggies made three consecutive NCAA Regional appearances, and Nilson was recognized as the two-time North Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2014 and 2015.

Nilson spent two seasons from 2011-13 as an assistant coach at Texas Woman's University, where he was named the 2012 USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Assistant of the Year and Midwest Independent Conference Assistant Coach of the Year.

During his time as an undergraduate at Utah State, Nilson was a student coach for women's gymnastics from 2005-08. He then spent three years as the second assistant coach before heading to Texas.

A native of Cache Valley, Utah, Nilson graduated from Utah State in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in law and constitutional studies with a minor in family finance. He and his wife, Amanda, have five sons: Tristan, Ezekiel, Remington, Liam, and Asher.