Christopher Ryan Collins (born April 19, 1974) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach who is currently the head men's coach at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. Collins previously served as associate head coach of the

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

men's basketball team and is the son of

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) player, coach, and commentator Doug Collins.

Playing career

Glenbrook North High School Glenbrook North High School (also known as GBN) is a public high school in Northbrook, Illinois, a north suburb of Chicago, United States. It was established in 1953 and is part of the Northfield Township High School District 225. In 2022, it ...

Northbrook, Illinois Northbrook is a suburb of Chicago, located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois, United States, on the border of Lake County, Illinois, Lake County. It is part of a collection of upscale residential communities north of Chicago and belon ...

, Collins played on the varsity basketball team and won

Illinois Mr. Basketball The Illinois Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best high school boys basketball player in the U.S. state of Illinois. Most of the award winners have gone on to play at the highest levels of college basketball, and many h ...

and

McDonald's All American The McDonald's All-American Game is an American all-star basketball game played each year for boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the conclusion of the hi ...

honors. After high school, he went on to play at

. Collins received many honors for his play at Duke and was named to the All-ACC rookie team as a freshman in 1993. During his senior year, he was team captain, named Second Team All-ACC and also was awarded the Swett-Baylin Memorial Trophy, which is a trophy for Duke's

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

. After graduating from Duke, he played professional basketball in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

for two years.

Coaching career

Collins returned to the United States and became an assistant coach in the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

(WNBA) for the

Detroit Shock The Detroit Shock were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were the 2003, 2006, and 2008 WNBA champions. Debuting in 1998, the Shock were one of the league's first expansion franchises. Th ...

for one year under head coach

Nancy Lieberman Nancy Ilizabeth Lieberman (born July 1, 1958), nicknamed "Lady Magic", is an American former professional basketball player and coach in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) who is currently a broadcaster for the Oklahoma City Thun ...

; and at

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

for two years under head coach

Tommy Amaker Harold Tommy Amaker Jr. (; born June 6, 1965) is an American college basketball coach and the head coach of the Harvard University men's basketball team. He has also coached for the University of Michigan and Seton Hall University. He played po ...

. In 2000, he returned to his alma mater at Duke under

Mike Krzyzewski Michael William Krzyzewski ( , ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980–81 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team, 1980 to 2021� ...

as an assistant coach and was promoted to associate coach in the summer of 2008. He was instrumental in Duke's signing of

Jon Scheyer Jonathan James Scheyer ( , born August 24, 1987) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball, Duke Blue Devils of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). As a playe ...

, a fellow Glenbrook North Mr. Basketball winner (2006), who, like Collins, had also considered attending

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. Scheyer, who Collins was key in luring to Duke, became head coach of the Blue Devils with Mike Krzyzewski's retirement following the 2021–2022 season.

Northwestern

When

Bill Carmody William D. Carmody (born December 4, 1951) is an American retired men's college basketball coach, formerly the head coach at the Holy Cross Crusaders men's basketball, College of the Holy Cross. He was the head coach of the Northwestern Wildc ...

was fired as head coach of Northwestern in March 2013, Collins was immediately mentioned as a primary target. Collins' hiring was announced March 27, 2013. After three years of gradual improvement, the 2016–17 season saw Collins lead the Wildcats to their best season since before World War II. The Wildcats finished with their first winning Big Ten Conference record in 49 years, earned their first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history, and went on to win their first NCAA Tournament game. Northwestern had been the only member of a power conference to have never made the tournament. Following the season, Northwestern struggled to capitalize on their tournament run, in part because of renovations to

Welsh–Ryan Arena Welsh–Ryan Arena is a 7,039-seat multi-purpose arena in Evanston, Illinois, United States, near the campus of Northwestern University. It is home to four Northwestern Wildcats athletic teams: Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball, men's basket ...

that forced the team to play at

Allstate Arena Allstate Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Rosemont, Illinois, United States, northwest of Chicago, located at the corner of Mannheim Road and Lunt Avenue, just north of Mannheim Road's interchange with the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway ( I-90) ...

, 13 miles to the west of Northwestern's campus. The team finished 10th in the conference in the 2017–18 season, and last in 2018–19. Despite those struggles, Collins was able to land

Pete Nance Pete Lucas Nance (born February 19, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Wisconsin Herd of the NBA G League. He played college ba ...

, the highest-rated recruit in Northwestern history, who would begin play as a freshman in the 18–19 season. Struggles throughout the next few seasons would result in calls for Collins to be fired. At the conclusion of the 2021–22 season, Northwestern athletic director Derrick Gragg publicly stated that he had tasked Collins with "making necessary changes" to improve the team. Ahead of the 2022–23 season, expectations for Northwestern were low, with many expecting that the departure of key pieces from the last year's team, power forward Pete Nance for

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

and center Ryan Young for

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

, would result in a bottom-two finish in the conference. However, Collins led the Wildcats to twelve conference wins, the most for Northwestern since 1931, and the second NCAA tournament berth in program history. They also finished in a tie for second place in Big Ten play, their highest since the 1958-59 season. Collins's decision to bring in assistant coach Chris Lowery and revamp the team's defensive approach was widely credited with turning the team around. Beyond the NCAA tournament appearance, where the Wildcats would again advance to the Round of 32, Collins also coached Northwestern to their first win over the No. 1 team in the AP Poll, when the Wildcats defeated

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

in Evanston. In the first conference game of the 2023–2024 season, Collins and Northwestern would again upset No. 1 ranked Purdue in Evanston, this time in overtime. Following the end of the 2024-25 season, Collins signed an extension.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Northwestern profile

Duke profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Chris 1974 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Finland American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players American women's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Illinois College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Detroit Shock coaches Duke Blue Devils men's basketball players Duke Blue Devils men's basketball coaches Glenbrook North High School alumni Guards (basketball) McDonald's High School All-Americans Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball coaches Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball coaches Basketball players from Cook County, Illinois 20th-century American sportsmen