LaTanya Collins has been hired as the new head coach of the Motlow State Community College women’s basketball program effective July 17, according to Scott Shasteen, Motlow athletics director.
Collins was recently promoted to associate head coach at Coppin State University in Baltimore, where she spent the previous season as an assistant coach. Despite the promotion at Coppin State, Collins was one of 68 applicants to apply for the open position at Motlow and was selected from a group of seven finalists.
“LaTanya has significant experience coaching on both the high school and the college level,” said Shasteen. “She has displayed a strong ability to recruit and mentor student-athletes throughout her career, and she will be an exciting addition to the winning culture we are building in the Motlow athletics department. The College family, as well as our surrounding communities, will enjoy her enthusiasm and her ability to lead young women towards a better life. That’s what we are about at Motlow; providing opportunities for young people to improve their lives.”
Prior to Collins’ season at Coppin State, she spent two years as an assistant to the head coach/director of student-athlete development at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg from 2014-16.
Before Virginia Tech, she was the head girls basketball coach at Saint Gertrude High School in Richmond, Virginia (2013-14) and Atlee High School in Hanover, Virginia (2011-13). She served as an assistant coach at Radford University in Radford, Virginia, during the 2009-10 season, assisting with recruiting, coaching post and guard players, and supervising camps.
Collins also brings head coaching experience to Motlow. She guided the women’s basketball program at Southern Vermont College in 2005-06, and at St. Augustine’s University in 2006-07. After inheriting a squad at St. Augustine’s that had finished 6-22 the previous season, she helped turn the program around, winning 18 games the next season and recording the second-highest team grade point average in the conference.
She began her coaching career on the high school level at Charles City (Va.) High School in 2000. Previously that year she earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Virginia State University in St. Petersburg, Virginia. She earned her master’s degree in 2015 from California University of Pennsylvania.
Collins replaces former Lady Bucks’ head coach Bart Walker, who resigned in April to become head coach at Northwest Florida State College. Motlow finished the 2016-17 season with a 27-6 record, tied for the most wins in school history, and advanced to the national women’s tournament for the first time in program history.
http://www.motlowsports.com/2017-18/news/072417LaTanyaCollins.aspx
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