Greg Collins, who has served on the WKU coaching staff for the last six seasons, will assume head coaching duties immediately as the 11th head coach in Lady Topper Basketball history. Collins brings 16 seasons of experience as a collegiate assistant coach, serving as an assistant at Louisville (2003-07), Arkansas (2008-12) and WKU (assistant coach from 2013-14, associate head coach from 2015-18).
“It is a great honor to be offered this position with a program that has had so much success throughout its history,” Collins said. “WKU is a program that ranks in the top 10 all-time in victories, a program that has been to multiple Final Fours and has shown that it can have sustained success at the national level. I am very excited and would like to thank [Director of Athletics] Todd Stewart for the opportunity that he has presented to me.”
Collins has been instrumental in the emergence of the Lady Toppers on the national scene over the last six seasons, helping to lead the program to four conference tournament championships and NCAA appearances over that span. In the four years since WKU’s move to Conference USA prior to the 2014-15 campaign, Collins has helped to push WKU to two regular season titles and three tournament championships.
“We are proud to name Greg Collins as the next head coach of our women’s basketball program,” said Stewart. “As our Associate Head Coach, Greg has played an instrumental and vital role in every aspect of our program over the last six seasons. While serving in a largely behind the scenes capacity, his countless contributions to our success are certainly known and appreciated by those within our program. His high-level experiences prior to coming to WKU coupled with his impact on the Lady Topper Basketball program working alongside Coach Clark-Heard make him the ideal person to lead our program moving forward. Under his leadership, I am confident our program will continue the upward trajectory we have enjoyed the last six seasons.”
In Collins’ six seasons on the Lady Topper staff, WKU won 154 games, the most among all C-USA teams in that timeframe. Under his tutelage, WKU has produced three C-USA Players of the Year, including 2018 winner Tashia Brown, and has had 11 First Team All-Conference selections.
“We have had a great run since I’ve been here at WKU,” Collins said. “Having the chance to work alongside Michelle [Clark-Heard] with this program has been an incredible opportunity, and I am so grateful to have been able to work with her over the last six years. Being a part of the resurgence of this historically great program and now having the opportunity to continue building on that success is something that I look forward to as our head coach.”
During his time at Arkansas, Collins made a strong impact in recruiting, most notably with the signing of C’eira Ricketts in 2008. Ricketts would go on to be named SEC Freshman of the Year following her first season with the Razorbacks and would eventually earn Associated Press All-America honors and be selected with the 24th pick in the 2012 WNBA Draft.
In his first collegiate assistant coaching job at Louisville, Collins helped to lead the Cardinals to three consecutive NCAA appearances and the program’s first-ever Top 25 ranking. During his five-year tenure under Tom Collen, Louisville won 70 percent of its games.
Collins takes over a Lady Topper program that posted a 24-9 record during the 2017-18 season. WKU won its second consecutive C-USA Tournament championship and third in four seasons as a member of the league. In the team’s fourth NCAA appearance in the last six years, WKU fell to eventual Elite 8 participant Oregon State in the opening round in Knoxville, Tenn.
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