Southwestern Oklahoma State University Women's Volleyball

Collins is in his fifth season leading the SWOSU Volleyball team, having been named the programs second head coach on January 1, 2012. Additionally, Collins added the duties of Director of Gameday Operations in the fall of 2014.   The 2015 season was a breakthrough campaign for the SWOSU Volleyball program. The Bulldogs recorded the first winning season in program history by setting a new single-season record with 22 wins. SWOSU finished fourth in the Great American Conference with a 10-6 mark and entered the GAC Tournament as the No. 3-seed and defeated Northwestern Oklahoma State, Southern Nazarene and Southern Arkansas to claim the programs first-ever GAC Championship. The win also earned the Bulldogs their first-ever trip to the NCAA Division II Tournament, where they met the top-ranked team in the country, Concordia-St. Paul.   SWOSU was led by a trio of All-GAC performers in 2015. Carly Zak was named a First Team All-GAC selection and became the programs first All-Central Region performer when she earned a second team all-region selection by the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA). Kayla Hebert was a Second Team All-GAC selection and was named the GAC Tournaments Most Valuable Player, while Kelsi Schmidtberger earned All-GAC honorable mention and was picked to the GAC All-Tournament Team.   The Pioneer Cellular Event Center proved to be a valuable home court advantage in 2015, the second season for SWOSU Volleyball playing at their new home. The Bulldogs finished 10-2 in front of the home faithful in 2015, averaging a league-leading 371 fans per game, a new single-season record that ranked SWOSU 34th in NCAA Division II for attendance.   Collins has now tutored nine players who have earned All-Great American Conference honors in the past four seasons, including First Team selections Alison Cole (2013) and Carly Zak (2015). Zak became the programs first GAC Freshman of the Year in 2013 and the first All-Central Region selection in 2015, the same year SWOSU placed three players on the All-GAC for the third time in program history. Additionally, Collins teams have earned the AVCA Team Academic Award on two occasions (2012, 2014) and they won the GAC Sportsmanship Award in 2014.  The 2014 team finished 8-19 overall and tied for eighth place in the Great American Conference standings, advancing to the GAC Tournament for the third consecutive season. His squad ranked among the league leaders in both digs and blocks, setting a new school record by averaging better than 2.0 blocks per set. The Bulldogs were led by sophomore Carly Zak, a second team all-conference selection for the second straight season. The Bulldogs finished tied for fourth in the GAC standings in 2013 with an 8-6 conference mark and they completed their season with 13 victories for the second straight season, matching the second-highest win total in program history. In addition, some of their numbers stack up against the best in SWOSU history, including the most single-season blocks (249) and the second-most kills (1,525), attack percentage (.170), assists (1,429) and digs (2,037). His first team faced a daunting non-conference schedule before coming together in Great American Conference play. The Bulldogs had an overall four-win improvement from 2011, finishing 13-19 with a fourth-place finish in the GAC at 10-4. SWOSU finished ahead of the other four Oklahoma-based schools in the conference standings by at least two games. At the GAC Tournament, SWOSU defeated Ouachita Baptist in the quarterfinals, earning the first postseason victory in program history. In the semifinals, SWOSU went toe-to-toe with conference champion and tournament-host Harding, taking the Lady Bisons to five sets before succumbing 15-11. While 2012 was his first season as the head volleyball coach, Collins is certainly no newcomer to Southwestern Oklahoma State University. He arrived in Weatherford in 2004 from Clarendon College and he served as an assistant mens basketball coach under Scott Reed in 2004-05 and later with current athletic director and former basketball coach Todd Thurman during the 2006-07 season. Starting in 2005, Collins worked as a dual assistant for SWOSU, assisting with basketball while also helping Pagliasotti start the volleyball program. He served as an assistant volleyball coach for seven seasons before taking over prior to the 2012 season. Collins, a native of Hedley, Texas, holds two degrees from Southwestern Oklahoma State University. He earned his bachelors degree in 2006 before completing his masters degree in Sports Management in 2008. He and his wife, Jamie, were married in June 2012 and reside in Weatherford. Coach Collins Year-by-Year THE COLLINS FILE   Coaching Career 2012 Present: Southwestern Oklahoma State (Head Volleyball Coach)    Record: 56-72 (.438)   2005 11: SWOSU (Assistant Volleyball Coach) 2004 07: SWOSU (Assistant Basketball Coach)   Education Southwestern Oklahoma State University    Bachelors of Parks & Recreation, 2006    Masters of Sports Management, 2008