Bryan Collins (July 30, 1964 – July 8, 2023) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university with two main campuses, LIU Post and LIU Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It offers more than 500 academic programs at its main campuses, online, and at multiple non-residential. LIU ...

(LIU) from 1998 to 2021, staying with the team through its merger from the Division II

LIU Post Pioneers The LIU Post Pioneers (also Long Island–Post Pioneers and formerly the C.W. Post Pioneers) were the athletic teams that represented the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, located in Brookville, New York, in NCAA Division II intercolleg ...

to the Division I LIU Sharks. Collins served as the defensive line coach for the

Stony Brook Seawolves The Stony Brook Seawolves are the athletic teams of Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York, United States. The school competes at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and joined the all-sports Colonial At ...

for two seasons. He was promoted to defensive coordinator prior to the 2023 season, but died suddenly in July 2023 at the age of 58.

Career

Assistant coaching

Collins graduated from

St. John's University St John's University may refer to: *St. John's University (New York City) **St. John's University School of Law **St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus *College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and Col ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

in 1987, where he played linebacker on the football team. He began his coaching career as an assistant football coach at

St. Francis Preparatory School , motto_translation = My God and My All , location = , streetaddress = 6100 Francis Lewis Boulevard , city = New York City (Fresh Meadows, Queens) , state = New York , ...

in Fresh Meadows, Queens. He was an assistant coach at C.W. Post University from 1991 to 1993 before leaving for the United States Merchant Marine Academy to become their defensive coordinator and linebackers coach from 1994 to 1995.

C.W. Post / LIU Post / LIU

In 1996, Collins returned to C.W. Post in the same role and he was elevated to head coach in 1998. C.W. Post rebranded to the

in 2012. Collins won eight

Northeast-10 Conference The Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of ...

championships at C.W. Post/LIU Post. As the head coach for the Post program, Collins went 160–72. From 2006 to 2016, Collins also served as the athletic director of the LIU Post program. After the 2018 season, the Division II LIU Post Pioneers program merged with the Division I

LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds The LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds were the athletic teams representing Long Island University's campus in Brooklyn, New York in intercollegiate athletics, including men's and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, and track; women's-only bowli ...

program to become the Division I LIU Sharks. While Collins' first Division I season ended with a 0–10 record, he went 2–2 the following year in the shortened COVID–19 makeup season in

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

and was nominated as a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award, given to the top coach in FCS football. Collins suddenly stepped down from the program in June 2021. In two seasons, Collins went 2–12 as the head coach of the Sharks.

Stony Brook

On August 17, 2021, Collins was named the defensive line coach for the

. After two seasons, Collins was promoted to defensive coordinator in January 2023. Collins died on July 8, 2023 from a sudden cardiac event at age 58 before coaching a game as the Seawolves' defensive coordinator.

Head coaching record

Personal life

Collins was married to his wife Patti and had two children.

References

External links

Stony Brook profile

LIU profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Bryan 1960s births Year of birth uncertain 2023 deaths American football linebackers LIU Sharks football coaches LIU Post Pioneers football coaches Merchant Marine Mariners football coaches St. John's Red Storm football players Stony Brook Seawolves football coaches High school football coaches in New York (state)