Gary Collins (baseball coach)

Garrett Ray Collins, known as Gary "Bo" Collins is a retired college head coach who coached the SIU Edwardsville Cougars baseball team from 1979 to 2012. His teams had 1028 career wins, making him the 56th winningest baseball coach in NCAA baseball and the seventh-highest winner among coaches in NCAA Division II.[1]

Gary Collins
Biographical details
BornNovember 8, 1947
East Alton, Illinois
Alma materSouthern Illinois University Edwardsville
Playing career
1968–69SIU Edwardsville Cougars
1969–70St. Louis Cardinals minor leagues
Position(s)1st base, outfield
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1971–73SIU Edwardsville Cougars (asst.)
1974–78Lewis and Clark Community College (asst.)
1979–2012SIU Edwardsville Cougars
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
2012–14SIU Edwardsville Cougars/Director of
Development for Intercollegiate Athletics
Head coaching record
Overall1028–766–7
Accomplishments and honors
Awards
GLVC Coach of the Year 1998, 2007
St. Louis Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2014
SIUE Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2015
ABCA Hall of Fame Class of 2019

Career

A native of East Alton, Illinois and a graduate of Roxana High School, Collins entered Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) as a student just before the school initiated intercollegiate athletics. As a junior at SIUE, he became a member of Harry Gallatin's first Cougar basketball team in 1967–68[2] and a vital member of Roy E. Lee's inaugural baseball team in 1968,[3] returning to play for both teams as a senior. His baseball play earned SIUE Baseball Player of the Year honors in 1969 and resulted in his being the first SIUE student-athlete to be drafted to play professional baseball.[4]

Collins was a 12th round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in the June, 1969 Major League Baseball draft as a first baseman and outfielder. After two seasons with six clubs in the Cardinal organization,[5] Collins returned to SIUE, becoming an assistant coach for Roy Lee.

Collins spent two seasons as Lee's assistant, then moved to Lewis and Clark Community College as assistant to coach Arnold Copeland. In 1979, Collins returned to SIUE, replacing the retiring Roy Lee as the Cougars head coach. Over the following 34 seasons, Collins' Cougars built a record of 1,028–766–7.[6] In Collins' first thirty years as the Cougar coach, the school continued as the strong Division II program built by Coach Lee, earning fourteen trips to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship tournament and advancing to the Division II College World Series five times. In 2009, the Cougars began the transition to NCAA Division I, joining the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). In the team's first year of eligibility, the Cougars qualified for the 2012 OVC Tournament. Having seen the team through its transition to Division I, in July 2012, Collins stepped down as the Cougar's head coach, assuming new duties as SIUE's first Director of Development for Intercollegiate Athletics.[7] He retired from the university in February 2014.[3]

Collins earned his bachelor's degree in Physical Education in 1970 and added a master's degree in counselor education in 1973, both from SIUE.[3]

Collins is one of seven individuals who will be inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Hall of Fame in January 2019.[8]

Head coaching record
Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
SIUE Cougars (NCAA Division II independent) (1979–1995)
1979 SIUE Cougars 15–26
1980 SIUE Cougars 26–27
1981 SIUE Cougars 33–27
1982 SIUE Cougars 34–21Div. II Regional 4th
1983 SIUE Cougars 35–15Div. II CWS 4th
1984 SIUE Cougars 22–23
1985 SIUE Cougars 36–15–1Div. II CWS 6th
1986 SIUE Cougars 39–21Div. II Regional 4th
1987 SIUE Cougars 40–15–1Div. II Regional Runner-up
1988 SIUE Cougars 28–20
1989 SIUE Cougars 31–18Div. II Regional Runner-up
1990 SIUE Cougars 36–14Div. II Regional Runner-up
1991 SIUE Cougars 43–17Div. II CWS 5th
1992 SIUE Cougars 36–20–1Div. II Regional 3rd
1993 SIUE Cougars 19–18
1994 SIUE Cougars 23–27–2
1995 SIUE Cougars 31–17–1
SIUE Cougars (Great Lakes Valley Conference) (1996–2008)
1996 SIUE Cougars 29–2217–113rd
1997 SIUE Cougars 37–1917–91st (South)Div. II CWS 5th
1998 SIUE Cougars 38–1516–41st (South)Div. II Regional Runner-up
1999 SIUE Cougars 35–1917–82nd (South)
2000 SIUE Cougars 33–2319–82nd (South)
2001 SIUE Cougars 41–2719–81st (South)Div. II CWS 5th
2002 SIUE Cougars 30–2416–124th
2003 SIUE Cougars 24–2617–132nd
2004 SIUE Cougars 20–3217–227th
2005 SIUE Cougars 28–2719–217th
2006 SIUE Cougars 40–19–130–14–14thDiv. II Regional 3rd
2007 SIUE Cougars 37–1726–101stDiv. II Regional 5th
2008 SIUE Cougars 25–2618–14West 2nd
SIUE Cougars (NCAA Division I independent) (2009–2010)
2009 SIUE Cougars 15–39
2010 SIUE Cougars 14–38
SIUE Cougars (Ohio Valley Conference) (2011–2012)
2011 SIUE Cougars 28–24Ineligible
2012 SIUE Cougars 27–2813–146th
SIUE: 1,028–766–7
Total:1,028–766–7

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References
  1. "2013 NCAA Baseball Coaching Records Through 2012" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  2. "Men's Basketball-Gary Collins". Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  3. "Baseball-Gary Collins". Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  4. "Collins, Kristoff brothers, McCoy among inductees to SIUE Hall of Fame". The Telegraph. July 9, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  5. "Gary Collins". Baseball Reference.com. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  6. "For 34 years with SIUE baseball, 3 o'clock was a happy hour for Collins". The Telegraph. July 17, 2012. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  7. "SIUE's Collins Transitions from Head Baseball Coach to Development". Ohio Valley Conference. July 11, 2012. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  8. "ABCA Hall of Fame Class of 2019 announced". American Baseball Coaches Association. 6 July 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
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