James Earl Collins (November 24, 1946 – December 13, 2020) was 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 ...

player and coach. He was born and raised in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

, where he attended

Corcoran High School Corcoran High School is a public high school located in Syracuse, New York, having approximately 1800 students. In 2005, it became a member of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. The principal is Amber Adams. Facilities The facilit ...

. Collins was the head coach of the men's basketball team at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 1996 to 2010, becoming the program's all-time winningest coach and leading UIC to its first-ever postseason appearances - NCAA tournament appearances in 1998, 2002 and 2004, and an NIT showing in 2003.

Early life and playing career

Born and raised in

, son of Early Collins, who was a funeral director, and to Lorraine Collins née Varnarsdale, who worked in the nursing field. Jimmy Collins graduated from

and played college basketball at

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution of higher education, and was the original land-g ...

under head coach

Lou Henson Louis Ray Henson (January 10, 1932 – July 25, 2020) was an American college basketball coach. He retired as the all-time leader in victories at the University of Illinois with 423 victories and New Mexico State with 289 victories. Overall, Hens ...

. As a senior, Collins was the captain of an Aggie squad that reached the 1970 Final Four. Collins was then drafted in the first round of the

1970 NBA draft The 1970 NBA draft was the 24th annual NBA draft, draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on March 23, 1970, before the 1970–71 NBA season, 1970–71 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amate ...

by the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

Coaching career

Collins began his coaching career with one and a half years as a graduate assistant at New Mexico State after retiring from professional basketball. In 1976, Collins returned to Chicago to start a trucking business. From 1977 to 1983, Collins was a probation officer for

Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the List of counties in Illinois, most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, C ...

. Collins also returned to coaching in 1980 as volunteer head coach at St. Thomas Elementary School in Chicago. From 1983 to 1996, Collins was an assistant at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

(Illinois) under

. There he had made a name for himself as one of the nation's best recruiters, helping lure Chicago area players such as

Kendall Gill Kendall Cedric Gill (born May 25, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who now works as a television basketball analyst. Throughout his NBA career he was known as “Cold World” for his ice cold demeanor on the court. Ear ...

, Nick Anderson, Deon Thomas and the bulk of the Fighting Illini's 1989 Final Four team. In 1996, Collins became head coach at the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

(UIC). In 14 seasons, Collins had a 218–208 record, including three NCAA Tournament appearances in 1998, 2002, and 2004. On July 20, 2010, Collins announced his retirement from coaching. Collins died on December 13, 2020, at age 74.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" !Year !Team !GP !GS !MPG !FG% !FT% !RPG !APG !PPG , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, 55 , , 3 , , 8.7 , , .430 , , .778 , , 1.0 , , 1.1 , , 4.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 19 , , 0 , , 7.1 , , .366 , , .909 , , .6 , , .5 , , 3.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 74 , , 3 , , 8.3 , , .414 , , .804 , , .9 , , .9 , , 3.8

Playoffs

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" !Year !Team !GP !MPG !FG% !FT% !RPG !APG !PPG , - , style="text-align:left;",

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 2 , , 4.0 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , .5 , , .0 , , 1.5

Head coaching record

Notes

External links

NBA career stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Jimmy 1946 births 2020 deaths 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen African-American basketball coaches All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from Syracuse, New York Chicago Bulls draft picks Chicago Bulls players Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball coaches Los Angeles Stars draft picks New Mexico State Aggies men's basketball coaches New Mexico State Aggies men's basketball players Shooting guards UIC Flames men's basketball coaches Utah Stars draft picks