Nicki Collen (née Taggart; born May 13, 1975) is an American basketball coach and is currently the head women's basketball coach at

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

Early life

Collen was born in

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

and her family moved to

Platteville, Wisconsin Platteville is the largest city in Grant County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 11,836 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located atop the greater Platte River (Wisconsin), Platte River valley in the southern Dr ...

when she was 10 years old. While living in Wisconsin, Collen attended basketball camps with

Bo Ryan William Francis "Bo" Ryan Jr. (born December 20, 1947) is an American former college basketball coach. He was the head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball, Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team of the University of Wisconsin–Mad ...

Playing career

Collen began her playing career at

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 ...

, where she was on a team that made consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in 1994 and 1995 and won consecutive Big 10 Championships. During her junior year, she transferred to Marquette, where she led the team to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. She earned all conference honors while at Marquette and was ranked third nationally in assists during her senior season. After her college career, Collen played one year of professional basketball in Greece with BCM Alexandros.

College career statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;" , 1993–94 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 28, , -, , -, , 22.2, , 0.0, , 69.2, , 0.6, , 0.8, , 0.6, , 0.1, , -, , 0.8 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1994–95 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 28, , -, , -, , 22.7, , 18.2, , 53.8, , 0.6, , 1.2, , 0.3, , 0.0, , -, , 0.9 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1995–96 , style="text-align:center;" colspan="12" , ''Sat out due to NCAA transfer rules'' , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1996–97 , style="text-align:left;" , Marquette , 31, , -, , -, , 31.9, , 23.9, , 81.5, , 2.8, , 6.6, , 1.9, , 0.3, , -, , 6.8 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1997–98 , style="text-align:left;" , Marquette , 29, , -, , -, , 38.1, , 37.4, , 72.0, , 2.7, , 7.4, , 1.6, , 0.1, , -, , 9.8 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Career , 116, , -, , -, , 34.5, , 32.2, , 74.0, , 1.7, , 4.1, , 1.1, , 0.1, , -, , 4.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="14", Statistics retrieved from

Sports-Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey Ref ...

Coaching career

Collen began her coaching career at Colorado State as an assistant. After her tenure there, she was an assistant at Ball State, Louisville, and Arkansas, before moving to Florida Gulf Coast. While at Florida Gulf Coast, she helped the 2014–2015 team to a historic 31–3 record. Collen coached under

Curt Miller Curt Miller (born October 6, 1968) is an American basketball executive and coach who is the Executive Vice-President and General Manager of the Dallas Wings of the WNBA. He most recently served as the head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks from 202 ...

with the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut. The Sun compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team i ...

after her time as a college assistant. Collen helped the Sun turn around from a 14–20 finish in 2016 to a 21–13 record in 2017. On October 30, 2017, Collen was announced as the head coach of the

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Dream compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded for the ...

. Collen took over for

Michael Cooper Michael Jerome Cooper (born April 15, 1956), nicknamed "Coop", is an American basketball coach and former player. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers during his entire career in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning five NBA champ ...

after the Dream finished 12–22 in 2017.

Atlanta Dream

Collen led the Dream to a slow start; posting a 2–2 record in May and a 5–6 record in June. June was an up and down month, with the team winning on the road against the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team was founded by Gi ...

, but giving the

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Fever compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was founded for ...

their second win of the season. July saw the team find its form. The Dream posted a 9–2 record, which was tied for the best record in the league. The run moved the team from 9th in the standings to 2nd. Collen led the team on an eight-game win streak including a perfect 4–0 record on the road. For her efforts, Collen was named WNBA Coach of the Month for July. Collen was again selected WNBA Coach of the Month in August. She led the Dream to a 7–1 record, which secured them the number 2 seed in the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

and a bye to the semifinals. The team's only loss was to Phoenix on the road. The team finished with a 23–11 record, a franchise best. On August 28, 2018, it was announced that Collen was selected the WNBA Coach of the Year. She received 37 of 39 possible votes for the award. She is the second Dream coach to win the award.

Baylor Bears

On May 3, 2021, Collen was hired as the head coach at Baylor following

Kim Mulkey Kimberly Duane Mulkey (born May 17, 1962) is an American college basketball coach and former player. Since 2021, she has been the head coach for Louisiana State University's LSU Tigers women's basketball, women's basketball team. A Pan-American ...

's departure to

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

Head coaching record

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2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, 34, , 23, , 11, , , , align="center" , 1st in East , , 5, , 2, , 3, , , align="center" , Lost in WNBA Semi-Finals , - , align="left" , ATL , align="left" ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, 34, , 8, , 26, , , , align="center" , 6th in East , , —, , —, , —, , — , align="center" , Did not qualify , - , align="left" , ATL , align="left" ,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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Personal life

Collen is married to basketball coach Tom Collen. The couple have three children. The two met when Tom was an assistant at Purdue when she played there and then he later hired her as his assistant at Colorado State. They married in 2001 and she served as his assistant at Louisville and Arkansas.

External links

Atlanta Dream Bio

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collen, Nicki 1975 births Living people American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Atlanta Dream coaches Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball coaches from Wisconsin Baylor Bears women's basketball coaches Connecticut Sun coaches Marquette Golden Eagles women's basketball players People from Platteville, Wisconsin Purdue Boilermakers women's basketball players