Brian "Penny" Collins is an American college basketball coach, and current head coach of the
Tennessee State Tigers basketball
The Tennessee State Tigers basketball team represents Tennessee State University (TSU) in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The school's team currently competes in the NCAA Division I's Ohio Valley Conference. They play their home games at th ...
team.
Playing career
A Nashville native, Collins was a four-year starter at hometown
Belmont under
Rick Byrd, and was the captain of the Bruins first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance at the Division I level in
2006. He scored 1,199 points in his career, and left the school as the all-time leader in assists and steals at the Division I level.
After graduation, Collins played professional basketball between 2006 and 2007 with the
Bakersfield Jam
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's pop ...
of the
NBDL
The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...
and
Kouvot
Kouvot is a Finnish professional basketball team based in Kouvola. Founded in 1964, the team plays in the Korisliiga and has won the national championship four times: in 1995, 1999, 2004, and 2016. The team plays at the Mansikka-ahon urheiluhalli.
...
in Finland.
Coaching career
In 2007, Collins began his coaching career serving as a graduate assistant and director of basketball operations at
Tennessee State
Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennes ...
until 2009, when he accepted an assistant coaching position at
NAIA institution
Cumberland.
Collins landed his first head coaching job, taking the reins of
Columbia State where he took over a team that went 10–17 in his first year, but compiled a 54–11 overall record in his final two seasons and led the team to two-straight NCJAA national tournament appearances. After the 2015 season, Collins joined the staff at
ETSU for two seasons before spending one season at
Illinois St. as an assistant coach.
On March 26, 2018, Collins was named the 21st head coach in Tennessee State history, replacing
Dana Ford, who accepted the head coaching position at
Missouri State.
Head coaching record
NJCAA
NCAA DI
References
Living people
1984 births
American men's basketball coaches
American expatriate basketball people in Finland
Bakersfield Jam players
Basketball coaches from Tennessee
Basketball players from Tennessee
Belmont Bruins men's basketball players
College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's basketball coaches
Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball coaches
Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States
Tennessee State Tigers basketball coaches
American men's basketball players
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