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Printer-Friendly ModeCoach sees great opportunity at SVSU
January 15, 2008 —
New Football Head Coach Jim Collins has had his eye on Saginaw Valley for a long time.
"Saginaw Valley was a football program and a university that I always thought would be a great move coming from Capital," Collins said. "What attracted me the most about Saginaw Valley was the opportunity to compete at the highest level of Division II. When you're at a place as long as I was at Capital, you're only going to look at certain opportunities. Saginaw Valley fit everything I was looking for."
The former Capital University head coach comes to SVSU after compiling a 66-51 record over 11 seasons - 44-13 in the last five - at the Division III school. While at Capital, he was able to turn around a program that hadn't seen a winning record since 1991, setting school records with 10 wins in 2005, then again with 11 wins in 2006.
"It was a tough decision," Collins said of leaving Capital. "We had a lot of success for the last 11 years. We had a great group of people and a great team coming back. We had everything in place to be successful, and I think they will continue to be successful."
Collins developed a reputation for having an inventive offensive mind during his time at Capital. Emphasizing ball security and using a lot of pre-snap motion to create offensive mismatches, Collins found success in the Ohio Athletic Conference, winning several Ohio coaching awards.
"What we always emphasized offensively, and it's always allowed us to have success, is ball security. If you can protect the football and not turn it over, you're going to have more opportunities to score. We always stressed balance, not in terms of running and passing, but in terms of being able to do different things as the defense allows you to do them.
"We ran most of our stuff out of a one back set, but we did do some things out of the two back sets, some of it was two tight. We used a lot of motion, and what we were trying to do is make a lot of mismatches, get the ball in the hands of our playmakers and let them do their thing."
He has also drawn praise from Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel, and two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.
"He is just one of those guys that you admire 'How he does it,'" Tressel said. "What I love about him is he is always talking about what it takes to be a national champion."
And that's one thing Collins is already thinking about in short time he's been at SVSU.
"As a coach, you don't want things limiting your success," Collins said. "I think here at Saginaw Valley, there are no limitations in terms of developing the student athletes to their fullest potential, whether it's academically, socially or on the football field. And as a program, I don't think there are any limitations [at SVSU] preventing you from competing for a national championship."
Having been on the job for less than a month, Collins said he's had little time to take in the area. But, he said he was initially impressed by SVSU's campus.
"I was real impressed. I met a lot of people who work at the University and was real impressed," Collins said of his first days at SVSU. "I was looking for a place where I could go and fit in and was like a close-knit atmosphere, and I felt that. During the interview process I was extremely impressed with the campus as a whole, the facilities, the buildings, the football stadium, all those things were impressive to me."
That close-knit atmosphere is something he wants to bring to his team, too.
"The thing I want to stress is building great team chemistry," Collins said. "I know that's going to be a challenge because I'm new. But us coming together as a program and having great chemistry is one of my primary goals.
"In order to have a good football team, you don't just need great football players, you need guys who are willing to work hard and work hard together. What we were able to establish at Capital a true family atmosphere with guys working hard and sacrificing for each other in an environment where they really enjoyed not just the process of winning football games, but everything that went with it." Collins also placed emphasis on not being too farsighted during the season.
"I want to work better to get everyday. This is where I come from philosophically," Collins said. "Our goal at Capital was always to be 1-0 at the end of every week, and if we weren't, we showed up Sunday morning and figured it out, and started focusing on the next game.
"We don't talk about anything other than getting a little better everyday, and that's in the classroom, in the weight room, and on the football field. And that's one thing I think, especially at college level, that you've got to stress because so many times people want to look ahead to this game or that game. We just stress the here and the now and working hard and doing it together."