Baylor Athletics and head women’s basketball coach Nicki Collen have finalized a contract extension, Vice President and Director of Athletics Mack B. Rhoades IV announced on Tuesday. The newly extended contract runs through 2030.
“We are thrilled to announce the contract extension for Coach Nicki Collen,” said Rhoades. “Nicki has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to our student-athletes and the Baylor Family in her first three years with our women’s basketball team. She has assembled a strong and talented staff that is doing an excellent job in the development of our athletes. Her leadership, vision and dedication to excellence have significantly contributed to the continued success of our storied program.”
Over her three-year span at the helm of the program, the Bears hold a 78-28 record with three trips to the NCAA Tournament, upping BU’s fourth-longest active postseason appearance streak in the country to 20. The 2023-24 squad recorded Collen’s best finish as head coach in the Big Dance, closing the year with a down-to-the-wire game against USC in the Sweet 16 and the team’s 24th-straight campaign with 20-plus wins.
In Big 12 play, Collen’s Bears have a 37-17 tally after a 15-3 start that won the program’s 24th Big 12 title in 2022. She has mentored three first-team, three second-team and six honorable mention All-Big 12 selections while taking each of the Freshman of the Year, Newcomer of the Year and Player of the Year titles once.
“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to continue to lead the women’s basketball program at Baylor University,” said Collen. “The trust and belief Mack Rhoades and Linda Livingstone have shown me from the beginning to sustain and continue to build on the storied success of the program is humbling. I’m incredibly proud of the way our staff and student-athletes have represented Baylor on and off the court and for fully embracing Baylor’s mission of preparing champions for life.”
While finishing 13th in the final Associated Press rankings with a 26-8 record in 2023-24, the Bears ranked nationally in the top 25 in three-point defense (No. 8, 26.3%), assists per game (No. 16, 18.1), scoring margin (No. 21, 14.4) and rebounding margin (No. 22, 7.3). The squad also led the conference in wins over opponents ranked in the AP poll with seven on the season.
The 2023-24 squad also tabbed the second-best start in the Baylor women’s basketball record book, behind only 2012’s perfect 40-0 season. The 14-0 record that ran through the beginning of January was the fifth perfect non-conference slate in program history.
“The success of this past season has us motivated to accomplish even more, to be ‘Greater Than’ in all we do, and we will do so with the energy and support of the Waco and Baylor community who have embraced us wholeheartedly,” said Collen.
The Collen era has seen three players selected in the WNBA Draft, all in the 2022 edition, as NaLyssa Smith went No. 2 and Queen Egbo went No. 10, the only time Baylor has had a pair of top-10 selections in the same draft, and Jordan Lewis went 24th overall in the second round.
Collen came to Baylor from the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, where she spent three seasons at the helm of the franchise. Her 23-11 rookie season in Atlanta earned WNBA Coach of the Year honors and helped the franchise to the WNBA Playoff Semifinals.
Before arriving in Atlanta, she spent two seasons under former head coach Curt Miller of the Connecticut Sun, helping the franchise improve from fifth in the East Division to second from 2016 to 2017, respectively.
Collen’s early collegiate coaching career spanned nine seasons prior to her WNBA arrival. She spent two seasons as an assistant at Colorado State from 2000-2002, one season at Ball State from 2002-2003, one at Louisville from 2003-2004, three at Arkansas from 2011-2014 and two at Florida Gulf Coast from 2014-2016.
Her teams’ combined record in nine seasons as an NCAA Division I assistant was 214-74, good for a .743 win percentage. As an assistant, Collen guided four different squads to the NCAA Tournament, reaching the second round in three of those seasons. Collen coached three All-Americans and saw three selected in the WNBA Draft.
Entering the 2024-25 season, Collen’s Bears have been picked ninth on the ESPN Way-Too-Early Top 25 list. With only the opponent matrix announced for next season, the Bears will host BYU, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Utah and West Virginia and will travel to Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, UCF, Colorado, Houston, Kansas, Kansas State, TCU and Texas Tech during conference play.
