Gonzaga Prep Product Carter Nilson Follows in Father's Footsteps, Commits to Bulldogs
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Gonzaga Prep forward Carter Nilson, the son of former Zags player Mike Nilson, has committed to Gonzaga. Credit: PrepHoops [/caption]
The 1999-00 season was Mark Few’s first as head coach of the Gonzaga Bulldogs. His senior class that season included 6-5 guard Mike Nilson, who won WCC Defensive Player of the Year and fueled the Zags to an Elite Eight finish in his fourth and final year with the program.
26 years later, Mike’s son, Carter Nilson, will also play under Few, as the Gonzaga prep graduate reportedly committed to GU, planning to play collegiate basketball in Spokane. It will be the first time that a father-son duo both play under Few in his tenure at the helm, besting John and David Stockton, with the former finishing his Zags tenure in 1984.
Carter’s role will be similar to a walk-on, but with the new language from the settlement in House v. NCAA, he will be on scholarship like every other men’s basketball student-athlete in the country. Currently, he slots in as the 11th player on Gonzaga’s roster, joining three other committed freshmen who are helping fill out the Zags’ bench. Carter is set to be the first Bullpup to transition to a Bulldog since Anton Watson in 2019.
Also standing at 6-5, Carter averaged 9.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game in his senior season and his second on Gonzaga Prep’s varsity squad. In his junior campaign, he logged 8.3 points, 12.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 3.5 blocks per contest. Over those two years, the Bullpups took back-to-back trips to the 4A state championship. Carter led the team in scoring during the state tournament in 2025, including a 16-point game to fuel G-Prep’s 57-55 victory over Puyallup to take home the trophy. This past season, they went 21-7 before falling to unbeaten Richland 63-49 in the title game.
During GU’s 31-4 campaign last year, it carried Alonzo Metz, Cade Orness, and Joaquim ArauzMoore as guards on the end of its bench. Orness and ArauzMoore each departed in the transfer portal — to Mount St. Mary’s and High Point, respectively — but Metz is expected to return as a walk-on for the 2026-27 season.
Mike Nilson played four years at Gonzaga, receiving starter minutes for his final three seasons. Overall, he totaled 2.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 0.9 assists on 43.5% shooting in 109 games as a Zag. In his last year, Mike notched career highs in minutes, points, rebounds, and assists while logging 1.6 steals a contest, receiving honors for the best defensive player in the conference. When the Zags went on a “Cinderella” run to the Elite Eight during Mike’s junior year under Dan Monson, it placed the program under the most national light it had seen, before the Bulldogs followed that up with a Sweet 16 appearance in Few’s first year as head coach. That 1998-99 season was highlighted in the “Gonzaga: The Slipper Still Fits” documentary released in March.
After his collegiate career concluded, Mike played basketball professionally in Germany for two seasons, where he won a league championship in Düsseldorf and earned another Defensive Player of the Year award. He even played alongside former Gonzaga teammate Ryan Floyd overseas.
Retiring from his playing days and returning to Spokane, Mike became a licensed sports nutritionist and was hired as Gonzaga’s Director of Performance and Nutrition in 2004. He also joined the Gonzaga women’s basketball coaching staff before the 2022-23 season as a strength and conditioning coach. Partnering with foundations to better prepare youth athletes, Mike contributed to U-District Physical Therapy, the U-District Foundation, and created HoopCommitment.com to promote nutrition, leadership, mental health, sports psychology, and wellness. He departed from Gonzaga in 2025 to work with TEN Capital as a financial advisor.
Even as a walk-on, Carter could grow into a larger role over time with the Bulldogs like his father did three decades ago. He showed production as a capable two-way player, his length could play on the perimeter, and he already has the Zags’ DNA flowing through his veins.
