College - Illinois State '73



Doug Collins begins his second season as head coach of the Washington Wizards, having engineered an 18 game turnaround during the 2001-2002 season. Collins is a seven-year veteran of the NBA coaching ranks, having coached Michael Jordan and the Bulls in his first job as a NBA head coach and three years with Grant Hill and the Detroit Pistons. He compiled an overall record of 295-242 and he took his teams to the playoffs his first five years as a head coach.

Collins began his NBA coaching career as head coach for the Chicago Bulls, joining the organization on May 23, 1986 and coached the Bulls for three straight seasons. He coached them to their best record (50-32) in 15 years during the 1987-88 season. He also brought the team into the playoffs three straight seasons, losing in the Eastern Conference Finals to Detroit, 4-2, during the 1988-89 season.

In his first year as the Pistons head coach, Collins engineered a franchise record-tying 18-game Pistons turnaround in 1995-96, guiding Detroit to 46 wins and his first playoff berth in four seasons. In the following season, the team won 54 games, the third highest total in Pistons history. The 1996-97 team also set a Detroit all-time record, winning 40 games in just 53 tries, a mark faster than any team in Pistons history. Collins won his 200th NBA contest on December 15, 1996.

Because of his success, Collins was rewarded with the opportunity to coach the Eastern Conference in the 1997 All-Star Game. He coached two of his own All-Star players, Joe Dumars and Grant Hill, to a 132-120 victory over the Western Conference.

The Benton, IL, native, earned a reputation as strong advocate of defense as his Pistons teams ranked second in the NBA for two straight seasons. Detroit yielded just 92.9 points per game in 1995-96, a number almost 13 points better than the team’s defensive average in 1994-95. The team one-upped that mark the following season, allowing three fewer points per game (88.9).

Collins served not only as the Piston’s bench coach, but also as the head of basketball operations. He directed all basketball related matters, which included the hiring of the entire basketball administration and all decisions regarding the team’s coaching and scouting staffs. He worked with Vice President of Basketball Operations Rick Sund to guide the team through all of its scouting assignments, draft selections, trades and free agent signings.

Collins has earned a reputation as a teacher and his record of working with young potential stars is impeccable. In Chicago, Jordan was beginning his third year in the NBA when Collins took the helm. Scottie Pippen was a rookie during Collins’ second year coaching in Chicago. In Detroit he worked with All-Star Grant Hill, but his pride comes with his work with players that were not in the top half of the first round of the NBA Draft. He worked with Aaron McKie (17th), Don Reid (58th), Theo Ratliff (18th), Jerome Williams (26th) early in their careers. Ratliff was named to the 2001 NBA All-Star Game, but couldn’t play because of injury.

He began his coaching career at the University of Pennsylvania in 1981 as an assistant coach under Bob Weinhauer. Collins worked with Weinhauer in the same role at Arizona State for two seasons beginning in 1982. Collins served as a NBA analyst on NBC for four seasons. He joined NBC Sports March 17, 1998, teaming up with Bob Costas. He later joined with play-by-play announcer Marv Albert to make up the network's top NBA broadcast team. Widely regarded as television's finest basketball analyst, Collins most recently provided insight and in-depth commentary as NBC's men's basketball analyst during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, his first Olympics as a broadcaster.

Collins also earned all-star status as an NBA analyst for six years at Turner Broadcasting. His work at Turner earned him nominations for two Cable ACE Awards and one Emmy nomination. He earned Emmy nominations for his work at NBC in 1998 and 2000.

Drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers out of Illinois State with the first overall selection in the 1973 NBA Draft, Collins went on to star in the NBA for eight seasons, all with the Sixers. He scored 7,427 points, averaging 17.9 points per game and was selected to play in four all-star games (1976-79), but because of injury did not play in 1979. While at Illinois State, Collins starred on the 1972 United States’ Olympic Team, earning a silver medal at the Munich Games. He sank two key free throws in the final seconds before the Soviets scored their controversial game-winning basket.

An accurate shooter, the 6’6" guard shot .501 from the field in his NBA career, posting his best season in 1977-78, averaging 19.7 points and 4.1 assists per game while shooting .526 from the field. He averaged 21.5 points per game in 32 playoff games and led Philadelphia to the Eastern Conference Championship in 1977, before the team fell to Portland in six games.

Doug, a graduate of Illinois State University, and his wife Kathy have two children Chris, who is an assistant basketball coach at Duke University, and daughter Kelly, who is a fifth grade teacher in Allentown, PA.