Bobby Collins (basketball)

Bobby Collins (basketball)

Bobby Collins is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at Winston-Salem State University. He is the team's first head coach since beginning their transition to Division I competition. Collins previously served as the head men's coach at Hampton University.

Collins played basketball collegiately at Eastern Kentucky University from 1987 until 1991, earning All-Ohio Valley Conference Honorable Mention in his senior season. After earning his degree in business administration and management, he played one season overseas in Finland before returning to his alma mater to spend two years as an admissions counselor. In 1994, Collins took his first head coaching job as an assistant to Jeff Capel II with the Old Dominion Monarchs.

He left Old Dominion after one season to join the coaching staff at Hampton. As a part of the Pirates' staff, Collins helped a program that was transitioning to Division I upon his arrival become a constant presence at the top of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. This rise to the top reached its apex with back-to-back MEAC tournament titles in 2001 and 2002. The 2001 Pirates squad pulled off one of the most memorable upsets in the history of the NCAA tournament, playing as a 15-seed and defeating the second-seeded Iowa State Cyclones in the first round.

Following the 2002 season, Hampton's then-head coach Steve Merfeld left the school to take over at the University of Evansville. Shortly thereafter, Collins was promoted to the position as head coach, his first-ever head coaching position.

While Collins was still able to be competitive with the Pirates, he was never able to quite match the same high level of success set by Merfeld. Hampton won 19 games in Collins' first season, a school record for most wins by a first-year coach, but fell just short of a third consecutive MEAC title with a loss to South Carolina State in the MEAC championship game. The Pirates returned to the MEAC title game in 2005, but once again fell short, this time falling to Delaware State. Collins was, however, named the MEAC Coach of the Year for his efforts.

In 2006, after finishing in a tie for 5th during the regular season, the Pirates made a surprise run through the MEAC tournament and won their third MEAC title, and their first with Collins at the helm. However, their 16-15 record before the NCAA tournament sent Hampton to the opening-round game in Dayton, Ohio, where the Pirates were eliminated by Monmouth. Just two days after the loss, Collins resigned as the head coach of the Hampton Pirates.

Collins returned to his home state in September 2006 when he was hired to lead the Winston-Salem State Rams in their first season of Division I competition. In his first season with the Rams, playing as an independent with a schedule mostly of road games, Collins managed a 5-24 record. The 2007–2008 season, Collins' second with the team, will mark the Rams' first season of MEAC competition.

Collins, a Southern Pines, North Carolina native, played four years for the Eastern Kentucky University Colonels and played professionally in Helsinki, Finland.