(COLUMBUS, Ohio)--Capital University has announced that head football coach Jim Collins has resigned to accept the position as head football coach at Saginaw Valley State University in University Center, Michigan.
Saginaw Valley State University is an NCAA Division II institution of 9,500 students and competes in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
"This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make as the last 11 years at Capital University have been an outstanding experience," Collins said.
"During those years, I had the opportunity to do what I love and do it in an environment surrounded by great people. I will always be grateful to the outstanding administrators, board members and alumni who provided the resources and support to run a first class program. I cannot thank enough Roger Welsh, the man who gave me the opportunity of a lifetime, our coaching staff, who are my closest friends, and most of all, the outstanding student athletes who put on the Crusader uniform and did their absolute best all the time."
Collins was 66-51 in 11 seasons on the sidelines and transformed the Capital football team into one of the elite programs in the Ohio Athletic Conference and the nation. He was a three-time OAC Coach of the Year, the 2005 AFCA North Region and D3Football.com North Region Coach of the Year and the 2006 Football Gazette North Region Coach of the Year and the Lee Tressel Ohio College Coach of the Year in 2006. His 66 wins are second most in school history behind only Gene Slaughter, who won 120 games from 1961-1985.
In each of the last three seasons, the Crusaders advanced to the NCAA Division III Football Playoffs, where each season they lost to the eventual national champion, and the team finished each season nationally ranked. The highlight of the playoff run came in the 2006 season, when Collins led Capital to its first-ever 9-1 regular season and a pair of NCAA Playoff home games that marked the first post-season football games on campus in 36 years. In the national quarterfinals, the Crusaders suffered a 17-14 loss at No. 1 ranked and eventual national champion Mount Union College. Capital finished the 2006 season with an 11-2 record and its highest-ever ranking at No. 3 in the nation.
Collins led Capital to seven-straight winning seasons, including a 31-6 home record over that span, while his enthusiasm, contagious positive attitude and strong work ethic are evident throughout the entire program, but particularly in the offense for which he served as coordinator. Collins' teams have rewritten the school record books, setting over 40 records.
His program's accomplishments were not limited to the field, as over 50-percent of the roster maintains a 3.00 grade point average or better. Collins also has written numerous articles on coaching, served as the North Region chair of the NCAA Division III National Football Committee and is currently a member of American Football Coaches Association Coaches Council that helps act as a legislative liaison with the NCAA and develop the program for the annual convention.
Collins has built a solid track record of coaching at the college level as his coaching career began as an assistant coach at Central Michigan University from 1989 to 1991. While at Central Michigan, Collins also earned a master's degree in athletic administration. Collins then served as the offensive coordinator at Illinois Wesleyan University from 1991 to 1994. Collins helped the Titans win the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) title in 1992. That same year, the Titans competed in the NCAA playoffs for the first time in school history.
His first college head coaching job came in 1994 at the University of Dubuque in Dubuque, Iowa. Collins made an immediate impact, improving the size and quality of the team and with his aggressive offensive philosophy that changed the face of the Spartan program. Collins was there for three seasons before coming to Capital.
Collins has ties to the Buckeye state and the Ohio Athletic Conference. As a football player at Wittenberg University, Collins is still in the Tigers' record books as one of their top all-time wide receivers, ranking third in career receptions (116) and fifth in career yards receiving (1,560).
Collins and his wife Brooke have three sons - 14-year old Zach, 11-year old Ryan and six-year old Brady.