Pat Collins (American football)

{{Short description|American football player and coach (born 1941)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox college coach

| name = Pat Collins

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1941|8|20}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| alma_mater =

| player_years1 = 1960–1962

| player_team1 = Louisiana Tech

| coach_years1 = 1963

| coach_team1 = Louisiana Tech (GA)

| coach_years2 = 1964–1966

| coach_team2 = Airline HS (LA) (assistant)

| coach_years3 = 1967–1980

| coach_team3 = Louisiana Tech (assistant)

| coach_years4 = 1981–1988

| coach_team4 = Northeast Louisiana

| coach_years5 = 1989

| coach_team5 = Arkansas State (volunteer)

| coach_years6 = 1990–1991

| coach_team6 = Arkansas State (DC)

| overall_record = 57–35

| bowl_record =

| tournament_record =

| championships = 1 NCAA Division I-AA (1987)
2 Southland (1983, 1987)

| awards =

| coaching_records =

}}

Pat Collins (born August 20, 1941) is a former American football coach. He was the seventh head football coach for Northeast Louisiana University (now known as the University of Louisiana at Monroe) located in Monroe, Louisiana.

Coaching career

After graduating from Louisiana Tech, he became a graduate assistant. He then did some high school coaching before becoming a full-time assistant coach at Tech. He was a part of the coaching staff (focusing on defense) that won three consecutive NCAA College Division / Division II Championships from 1971 to 1973.https://www.nola.com/sports/nothing-ordinary-about-former-ulm-coach-pat-collins/article_3577efe5-4b78-5ab5-9045-4c08b2e090f7.html When head coach Maxie Lambright retired in 1978, Tech elected to hire Larry Beightol over anybody in Lambright's staff.https://www.thenewsstar.com/story/sports/college/ulm/2015/07/12/collins-looks-back-championship-run-ulm/30065517/

Thomas Eddleman, an assistant on John David Crow's staff at Northeast Louisiana (now known as Louisiana–Monroe), lobbied to get Collins hired at the program, which was accepted. When Crows resigned in 1981, Collins became head coach. In his tenure as a coach, his intensity attracted recruits such as quarterbacks Bubby Brister and Stan Humphries. The 1983 team won a share of the Southland Conference for their first conference championship in team history.{{cite news|title=Collins looks back on championship run at ULM|first=Adam|last=Hunsucker|url=http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/sports/college/ulm/2015/07/12/collins-looks-back-championship-run-ulm/30065517/|newspaper=The News-Star|location=Monroe|date=July 12, 2015|access-date=July 15, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151103031911/http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/sports/college/ulm/2015/07/12/collins-looks-back-championship-run-ulm/30065517/|archive-date=November 3, 2015|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Strong will fueled Pat Collins' title-filled career|first=Bill|last=Campbell|url=http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/sports/college/ulm/2015/06/17/strong-will-fueled-pat-collins-title-filled-career/28887899/|newspaper=The News-Star|location=Monroe|date=June 17, 2015|access-date=July 15, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930041357/http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/sports/college/ulm/2015/06/17/strong-will-fueled-pat-collins-title-filled-career/28887899/|archive-date=September 30, 2017|url-status=live}} compiling a record of 57–35.[http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/sunbelt/louisiana_monroe/coaching_records.php University of Louisiana at Monroe coaching records] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205130608/http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/sunbelt/louisiana_monroe/coaching_records.php |date=December 5, 2010 }} The 1986 team was picked to win the Southland but disappointed with just five wins even with a top ten defense. The 1987 team won the Division I-AA national championship with five straight playoff victories (three won by less than four points) and a dramatic comeback in the 1987 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game where they rallied from being down 42-28 in the fourth quarter with two touchdown passes from Humphries for the first (and so far) only football championship for the program, which also is the only Division I-AA/FCS championship won in the state of Louisiana. In the days where Louisiana Tech and Northeast Louisiana played regularly, Collins won six of the eight matchups between his team against Tech.https://www.thenewsstar.com/story/sports/college/ulm/2017/09/27/team-destiny-oral-history-ulms-national-title/707816001/

He resigned in January 1989 following a domestic dispute.{{cite web | url=https://www.thenewsstar.com/story/sports/college/ulm/2015/06/17/strong-will-fueled-pat-collins-title-filled-career/28887899/ | title=Strong will fueled Pat Collins' title-filled career }} He became a coach and administrator at West Ouachita, Ouachita and Longview before retiring in 2011. He was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

Head coaching record

{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = no }}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Northeast Louisiana Indians

| conf = NCAA Division I-A independent

| startyear = 1981

| endyear = single

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1981

| name = Northeast Louisiana

| overall = 5–6

| conference =

| confstanding =

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Northeast Louisiana Indians

| conf = Southland Conference

| startyear = 1982

| endyear = 1988

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1982

| name = Northeast Louisiana

| overall = 8–3

| conference = 4–1

| confstanding = 2nd

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = conference

| year = 1983

| name = Northeast Louisiana

| overall = 8–3

| conference = 5–1

| confstanding = T–1st

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1984

| name = Northeast Louisiana

| overall = 7–4

| conference = 3–3

| confstanding = 4th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1985

| name = Northeast Louisiana

| overall = 6–5

| conference = 3–3

| confstanding = 4th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1986

| name = Northeast Louisiana

| overall = 5–6

| conference = 3–2

| confstanding = T–2nd

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = national

| year = 1987

| name = Northeast Louisiana

| overall = 13–2

| conference = 6–0

| confstanding = 1st

| bowlname = NCAA Division I-AA Championship

| bowloutcome = W

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1988

| name = Northeast Louisiana

| overall = 5–6

| conference = 2–4

| confstanding = 5th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = Northeast Louisiana

| overall = 57–35

| confrecord =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record End

| overall = 57–35

| bowls = no

| poll = no

| polltype =

}}

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks football coach navbox}}

{{1973 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football navbox}}

{{1987 Northeast Louisiana Indians football navbox}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Pat}}

Category:1941 births

Category:Living people

Category:Arkansas State Red Wolves football coaches

Category:High school football coaches in Louisiana

Category:Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football coaches

Category:Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football players

Category:Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks football coaches

{{1980s-collegefootball-coach-stub}}