Lady Topper Hoops: What Does Collins Bring to the Table?
As WKU (and most mid-major) fans long feared, Lady Topper head coach Michelle Clark-Heard has decided to move on to greener pastures.
As WKU (and most mid-major) fans long feared, Lady Topper head coach Michelle Clark-Heard has decided to move on to greener pastures.
Coach Heard is now at the helm at the University of Cincinnati to double her salary, and immediately, Athletic Director Todd Stewart went to work sealing up what seems the obvious choice in former associate head coach Greg Collins.
Collins was announced as WKU’s 11th head coach in program history on Tuesday. Already a part of the program, Collins should prove to be a smooth transition. Listening off and on to references to Coach Collins from players, staff, and administration, nothing but good comes from those sources. This is as close to a pre-meditated move as can be.
A self-made man, Coach Collins has been successful at every level. A native of Louisville with Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the University of Louisville in 1988 and 1994, respectively, he coached and taught in the high school/AAU ranks in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He cut his teeth in the college ranks at Louisville starting in the 2002–03 season, then dabbled with scouting in the WNBA, then assistant coached Arkansas, and then finally landed at WKU as an assistant in 2012. He was named associate head coach in 2014, and had since been considered Michelle Clark-Heard’s most obvious replacement if she were to ever leave.
Collins has paid his dues, being incredibly successful at every level of coaching during his ascension. Every one of his teams has improved in each of his seasons, and his imprint has been obvious at every stop. In his previous jobs, he produced multiple WNBA draft picks and All-Americans. In the high school ranks, his teams produced 20 Kentucky all-stars, three Miss Kentucky Basketball winners, and 16 Division I scholarship recipients.
At WKU, the individual and team honors have piled up. All told, in his six years at WKU under Coach Heard, his players have earned multiple all-conference selections each season, made four NCAA Tournaments, and has now had two AP honorable mention All-Americans in Chastity Gooch and Tashia Brown. Brown is projected as a late second to early third round pick in the WNBA Draft, placing her as one of the Top 25 prospects in the nation for 2018.
How Will WKU Look in 2018–19?
Frankly, this is a bit of a mystery without being in the locker room. How influential is Collins on the girls in the locker room, and how good of a relationship does he have with the current committed recruits? Do they love him or deal with him? Can he keep everyone, or at least keep most of them?
Under Michelle Clark-Heard, WKU consistently had at least two mysterious transfers each year. Will there be more now that she has left, or will Collins slow it down and stabilize the depth of the program?
Assuming WKU keeps its core intact, the Lady Topper ship should keep on rolling from a talent perspective.
Without a single transfer, WKU would return 11 players: Arame Niang, Sidnee Bopp, Dee Givens, Whitney Creech, Alexis Brewer, Nichel Tampa, Raneem Elgedawy, Terri Smith, Sherry Porter, Elizabeth Anderson and Kayla Smith.
Any or all of those 11 could see the court if healthy. In addition, WKU inked three in November: Top 100 recruit and Top 25 point guard, Akira Levy, highly rated wing/forward Elysa Wesolek, and 6'3" defensive presence Kallie Searcy.
On Wednesday afternoon, it was announced Levy was released from her commitment from the Lady Toppers.
Clearly, the two keys are keeping players, both committed and current and developing the players that stay put. If WKU could stay intact, obviously the Lady Toppers are immediately a contender for another Conference USA title and would have the size to compete on a national level in the NCAA Tournament.
Secondly, WKU must develop some players into superstars. Losing two legends in Ivy Brown and Tashia Brown, someone must fill the void. Frankly, if they keep most of the players, most of them could be starters on any team in C-USA. If they improve, WKU could be bigger, faster, and stronger than this year’s version of the team. However, talent doesn’t always translate to production, and the Lady Toppers need some players to step up and score and contribute with volume.
As far as Collins’ style, many Lady Topper fans may have noticed the unique drills the Lady Toppers did during pre-game and halftime warm-ups. Greg Collins is regarded as a brilliant coaching mind, and many of those creative drills were of his creation.
WKU has had a unique, trapping style that is not very common in women’s basketball. The Lady Toppers have played up-tempo, scoring the most points in the conference in 2017–18, and it would be foolish to think much of the style should change from Coach Heard to Coach Collins. Collins was the X’s and O’s guy for MCH.
For me, the question about Collins is going to be administrative issues. How is Collins going to handle being a college head coach? Is he organized enough to anticipate all of the extra tasks required? There’s no question about his coaching ability, but great assistants don’t always make great leaders.
However, by every indication, Collins should be a great head coach for the Lady Toppers, and he was loyal to WKU. He had some sniffs at other head jobs in previous years and chose to stick it out with the Tops in hopes for this opportunity.
If you’re watching this Lady Topper team develop over the rest of the spring, summer, and fall, watch how they fill the holes. Who fits into Collins’ staff? What players stick around? How do they deal with losing the basketball operations position from recent budget cuts?
This should be an interesting ride, but the Lady Toppers seem to be in good hands.