The third time was the charm for Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington.

Byington was no stranger to 6-foot-7 wing Tyler Nickel. He worked at the same institution as both of Nickel's parents, he'd been building a relationship the Harrisonburg, Virginia, native since he was 14 and he'd made his pitch.

That pitch finally hit home as Nickel committed to Byington and Vanderbilt on April 10th.

Byington didn't always know if that'd be the case.

The chances certainly looked bleak as the then James Madison head coach sat in on Nickel's high school practices in 2021 and found himself following up with the four-star, top 100 recruit.

Nickel ended up looking past Byington's James Madison program and chasing a bigger opportunity at North Carolina like Byington expected, though.

"I knew I didn’t really have a chance when he was straight out of high school," Byington said of Nickel. "I still wanted to get a chance to know him so I recruited him just to know him because he was in the area and because of his family and everything else."

The impression was there for the highly-regarded Nickel, who was part of the country's number one recruiting class at one point, though.

“I’ve known coach [Byington] since I was probably like 14 or 15. As soon as he got the JMU job he started calling," Nickel said. "I always had a good relationship with him."

Nickel, whose dad Eric is employed by James Madison as the university's Director of Recreation and mom Jacki is as the Executive Director of External Initiatives, got an up-close look at Byington and his hometown program throughout his high school years.

The James Madison staff had regard for the value in that despite knowing their chances with Nickel were a long shot.

"He had come through some practices in the past and would watch us practice," Vanderbilt assistant and former James Madison assistant Xavier Joyner said. "He was able to really get an inside look into our program, without actually being a part of the program."

As the 2022 summer came, Nickel departed from Harrisonburg and ended up in Chapel Hill where he played just 6.0 minutes per game and averaged 2.1 points for North Carolina.

Nickel appreciated the program and what it stood for, but felt that North Carolina wasn't where he needed to be.

As the Virginia native entered the transfer entered the transfer portal as a rising sophomore, Byington made a run.

"When he left North Carolina I did try hard for him," Byington recalls.

Byington expressed his interest, he pitched familiarity and what he could do with Nickel's skillset in his up-tempo scheme.

Nickel had another in-state school in mind, though. The Harrisonburg native still believed he was an ACC player and ended up at Virginia Tech to continue to chase his aspirations of being an impact player in that league.

Byington's pitch and personality resonated, but Nickel still had his eyes set beyond his hometown.

"I always knew he was a good guy. I always liked him, but I wasn’t gonna go to JMU," Nickel said.

Byington and staff watched from afar that season as Nickel finally brought credence to the claim that he was a power-five player.

33 games, seven starts and 8.8 points per game later Nickel was back in the portal with an open mind towards Byington, who had a new destination himself.

As a result, the feel was entirely different this time around.

Byington was determined to make sure that feel turned into a tangible result.

'I can’t go 0-for-3," Byington joked about Nickel's recruitment. "0-for-2 is fine, 0-for-3 is not good."

Byington's lead assistant was confident all along that his head coach wouldn't strike out.

"He didn't choose us those first two go arounds, but this third go around I think it was a no brainer for him," Joyner said. "We had gotten to a level he wanted to obviously stay at and then also he was very familiar with us and our program."

What Nickel did by choosing to be Vanderbilt's second transfer commit on what was a barren roster at the time took guts.

The former Virginia Tech swingman was willing to show some, though.

“I just have a lot of trust in coach," Nickel said. "I had taken a visit before and kinda got a feel for everything and I had kinda broken everything down with coach and I loved everything I heard, everything I saw. Obviously being comfortable with Coach [Byington] was a lot of it, loving his style of play and just trusting that we were gonna build a team."

That message of trust and familiarity remains a steady point of conversation in regards to the recruitment of Nickel.

This one almost seemed to make too much sense not to work out.

"It’s always great when someone puts their name in the transfer portal and you’ll look in your phone and you already have their name and their number and their families names and numbers, it just makes some familiarity," Byington said. "You want to handle it the right way and you hope that if they do leave or they’re transferring they kinda remember your relationship and what you were talking about."

Nickel certainly remembered Byington's intensity and now hopes to put together a season and career under Byington that's a memorable one.

"A lot of people are under the assumption that it’s a ‘rebuild’ or whatever it is, it’s not supposed to be a rebuild," Nickel said. "It’s supposed to be come in and win. I’m excited for that mentality."