A former wrestling champ-turned-coach in the Amarillo Independent School District was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a 17-year-old female student he groomed for months through thousands of text messages.
Nicholas Jade “Nick” Herrmann, 32, was an assistant boys’ wrestling coach at Tascosa High School in Amarillo ISD when he was first arrested in January 2025 on a state felony charge of improper relationship between educator and student.
Herrmann was allowed to resign when the accusations surfaced.
Both Herrmann and the student initially denied the allegations. But investigators found evidence that from February 2024 through January 2025, the coach exchanged more than 4,000 text messages with the girl and eventually enticed her into having sex with him.
The federal government charged Herrmann with enticement of a minor in May 2025. The law defines “minor” as under the age of 18 years.
In January 2026, Herrmann pleaded guilty to the federal charge.
At sentencing, the student’s mother gave a statement revealing how Herrmann had “groomed both her daughter and their family to trust him” and how the coach’s sexual abuse of her daughter had “completely changed” the girl’s life trajectory.
On June 23, U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk sentenced Herrmann to 218 months in federal prison, followed by 25 years of supervised release and sex offender registration.
“When parents send their children to school, they place their trust in the school’s staff not only to provide them with an education but also to keep them safe,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. “This defendant clearly took advantage of the trust he was given, and his sentence should serve as a warning to others.”
Herrmann has filed a notice of appeal.
Before becoming a coach, Herrmann was a state champion wrestler while a student at Tascosa High School from 2009-2012.
Online records show Herrmann began working for Amarillo ISD in the 2019-20 school year. He was certified in 2022 as a special education teacher. His certification is under review by the Texas Education Agency.
In the 2023-24 school year, Herrmann was named the 5A Assistant Coach of the Year by the Texas High School Wrestling Coaches’ Association. Herrmann also coached wrestling at Lone Star Academy in Amarillo.
Another former Amarillo ISD teacher, Clark Inskeep, was sentenced in June to two years of deferred adjudication after pleading down five felony counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact to misdemeanors. The charges dated back to 2021 and involved female Austin Middle School students.
Perryton ISD coach Cole Underwood was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sex crimes involving a 15-year-old female student. Underwood previously coached at Amarillo ISD, where he earned the nickname “Perv,” short for pervert. A lawsuit filed by the girl’s family asserts Amarillo ISD failed to report Underwood’s misconduct, but claims the former Amarillo coach who hired him at Perryton knew all about the allegations. Underwood was a Perryton High School graduate and former captain of the football team.
Texas Scorecard has reported on hundreds of Texas teachers accused of sex crimes involving students and other children in just the past few years.
