Nigel Jenkins joined the Warriors in the fall of 2011 as the head men's basketball coach and began his collegiate coaching career in 2002 after a successful collegiate playing career. 

During the Jenkins era, the Warriors have knocked off 25 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) top 25 teams or receiving votes teams, as well as setting new marks for conference wins in a season and has coached 20 Academic All-Conference players as well as 7 Academic All-Americans.  

Jenkins is Waldorf's all-time winningest men's basketball coach in school history since joining the NAIA. 

During the 2019-2020 season, Jenkins guided his team to a pair of wins over North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) regular-season champion Bellevue, and to the NSAA Tournament Championship game in Watertown, South Dakota where they would fall 62-65 to Mayville State.  

During the 2018-19 season, Jenkins earned career-victory No. 100 - a 71-64 win over Governor's State on Nov. 9, 2018 

During the 2015-16 season, the Warriors posted a 16-14 record to match a school record for wins in a season.  

During the 2014-15 season, the Warriors posted a 15-15 record and finished one game out of first place in the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference (MCAC) standings with a 10-4 league record. The season also included three victories over opponents ranked in the top four (#2 Cardinal Stritch, #3 and #4 Bellevue University) of the NAIA polls.  

During the 2013-14 campaign, Jenkins led the Warriors to a 16-10 record. The 16 victories set a new school record for wins in a season. The Warriors received a No. 25 ranking in the NAIA Division II poll, marking the program's first appearance in the top 25. They would go on to be ranked as high as #15 in the national poll. 

In his first season at the helm, Jenkins led the Warriors to a 14-13 record in the 2011-12 season. The team's 14 wins marked the most since the 2007-08 season. After securing the No. 5 seed in the Midwest College Conference (MCC) tournament the Warriors gained a tournament road-win at No. 4 seed, Clarke University.  Waldorf fell a game short of advancing to the finals, with a loss to the eventual champion St. Ambrose University. 

During his tenure at Waldorf, Jenkins has seen nineteen players earn postseason recognition and coached three All-Americans in Demitrius Martin, Jordan Nelson (Second Team All-American), and Trey Scott (honorable mention All-American). Nelson also received MCAC Player of the Year and Scott was named MCAC Defensive Player of the Year in the 2014-2015 season. Gabriel Munoz received NSAA Defensive Player of the Year in 2019-2020. Erik Brewer received MCAC Freshman of the Year. Brewer also holds the school records for career points.  

Jenkins joined Waldorf after spending three seasons as an assistant coach for the men's basketball team at Minnesota State University at Mankato and, prior to that, spent three seasons at St. Mary's (Minn.) University as an assistant coach. 

While at Minnesota State, Jenkins helped lead the Mavericks to a third-place conference finish in 2008-09 followed by back-to-back conference championships in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. He also helped lead them to three consecutive NCAA Division II National Tournament appearances and the 2010-11 team reached the NCAA Final Four. Jenkins was honored with that team in the Minnesota State Hall of Fame class of 2022. He has coached 12 all-conference players, five all-region players, two defensive players of the year and three All-Americans. 

Prior to his appointment at St. Mary's, Jenkins served as an assistant coach for the University of North Dakota during the 2004-05 season, helping guide the Fighting Sioux to a 19-10 record. He was also an assistant for North Dakota in 2002 as the Fighting Sioux played to a 20-9 record and a trip to the NCAA Division II National Tournament. In 2003, he spent a season as an assistant at Lakeland College and helped lead the Muskies to a 16-13 record, capturing the Lake Michigan Conference Tournament and earning the school's only berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament. 

Jenkins spent two years at North Dakota after transferring from Black Hawk College-East. While at North Dakota, he was named captain of the 2001-02 squad that finished 19-10 and reached the finals of the North Central Conference Tournament. Jenkins, who played 52 games with the Fighting Sioux, shot 48 percent from beyond the three-point line for his career and finished his senior season shooting 55.9 percent from outside, leading the North Central Conference (NCC). 

Jenkins earned an undergraduate degree from North Dakota in 2003 and a master's degree from St. Mary's (Minn.) in 2009. Jenkins resides in Forest City with his two daughters, Maya and Cleo.