SHAW SPORTS INFORMATION

New Shaw basketball coach Bobby Collins returns to the CIAA, where he won a league championship at Winston-Salem State in 2012.

Bobby Collins is returning to CIAA basketball as Shaw’s head coach.

Collins, who spent the last two years as an assistant at South Carolina State, was named to the Bears’ top job Monday. He was Winston-Salem State’s head coach from 2007-14, taking over the Rams during their Division I transition and back to Division II and the CIAA. He has an overall record of 229-249, including 115-110 at WSSU, and the 2012 CIAA tournament title.

“I am very excited about joining the Shaw University family,” Collins said. “Shaw U has a pedigree of winning and I look forward to leading the program back to its winning ways.”

Collins succeeds interim coach Dominique Stephens, who led the Bears to a 5-28 record. Stephens stepped in for Joel Hopkins, who quit in October to tend to family matters.

“We are delighted to have Bobby Collins as our head men’s basketball coach,” Shaw Athletics Director Alfonza Carter said. “He brings with him a wealth of coaching experience. He is a proven winner and can get the job done on the court and off the court. I look forward to his commitment to both academic and athletic success which makes him the right fit to lead our men’s basketball program.”

Collins has an extensive coaching background. He was at Maryland-Eastern Shore from 2014-2018, where he went 49-82, including an 18-15 record in his first season – the Hawks’ best in 41 seasons and their first above-.500 campaign since 1993-94. 

A native of Southern Pines, N.C., Collins, 54, went 79-35 after WSSU returned to Division II, where the Rams earned three berths in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional tournament. His best season was the 2012-13 campaign when WSSU went 21-7 overall, 13-3 record in the CIAA and were ranked as high as seventh in the nation.
 

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