AFM RSS Feed Follow Us on Twitter       
AMERICAN FOOTBALL MONTHLY THE #1 RESOURCE FOR FOOTBALL COACHES
ABOUT |  CONTACT |  ADVERTISE |  HELP  



   User Name    Password 
      Password Help





Article Categories


AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


One Step Back ... Two Steps Forward

Bryan Collins of C.W. Post
by: Richard Scott
© More from this issue

Click for Printer Friendly Version          

Bryan Collins never wanted to leave C.W. Post in the first place. He enjoyed his job as an assistant coach and felt like he could grow and succeed at Post. But with a wife and a child on the way, the idea of a part-time coaching job was enough to convince him it was time to leave Post for another opportunity.

“I had been a part-time coach for three years,” Collins says. “I did enjoy my time here but with only two full-time coaches I just felt like there was never going to be an opportunity for me to be a full-time coach. I left here on good terms, I appreciated my time here and it was still a tough decision, but it was something I wanted to try. I wanted to be a full-time college coach.”

Collins couldn’t have known it then, but the decision to step away from Post in 1993 paved the way for him to return to Post in a capacity he never thought possible.

After two seasons as the defensive coordinator at NCAA Division III King’s Point Academy, Collins found himself returning to Post before the 1996 season, not only in the full-time capacity as the program’s defensive coordinator, but also as heir apparent to become the Pioneers’ next head coach.

“Our head coach (Tom Marshall) told us he was only going to coach another two years,” C.W. Post athletic director Val Salamone says, “and because of what I had seen the first time he was here and I liked what I saw, we brought Bryan back with the intention of grooming him to be the head coach.”

The decision to bring Collins back to Post has been a smart move for Salamone, the football program, the university and, of course, Collins.

Through five seasons at Post, Collins has proven his ability to build a winning Division II program. He entered the 2003 season with a 46-9 career record, having just completed a second consecutive 11-1 season in which the Pioneers reached the 2002 NCAA playoffs, competing as the only non-scholarship program among the 16 competing teams. In the process, Collins earned regional coach of the year honors from the American Football Coaches Association and coach of the year honors from the Northeast-10 Conference.

Not bad for a university that seriously pondered dropping the football program around the same time Marshall was resigning. Instead of being automatically promoted to the head coaching job, Collins found himself working just to convince university leaders to keep football at Post.

“That was a big shock to me,” Collins said. “We had to come in and interview, and not only did we have to get the job, but we also had to impress upon the university that football is a big part of this campus community and we had to go in the right direction with our program.”

Fortunately for Collins, the coaches and the Pioneer players, the university made the right decision to keep the program. The full financial and public support of the university administration hasn’t come as easy for a program that must work hard for every dollar, every improvement, every significant sign of progress.

“We’re still very challenged here in terms of facilities and full-time jobs,” Collins said. “It’s only myself and another coach working full time and the other nine members are all part-time coaches who are either teachers, corrections officers or whatever.

“Our facilities are outdated, too, and there’s always talk that something’s going to be done, but it is a very tough situation for our players. They don’t have the facilities you’d like for preparation and playing, but also for the learning process, with meeting rooms and other resources.

“But I do believe our administration supports us. There are some concerns on campus that come before our concerns. Right now (late September) we’re going through a faculty strike, so they’ve got bigger things on their minds.”

That said, Collins isn’t one to waste much time sitting around whining, wishing or worrying about issues he can’t control.

“You may want to continually push the administration to improve facilities, to make more of a financial commitment to the football program,” Collins says, “there’s a point where you say this is what you have, don’t complain about what you don’t have, deal with what you do have and turn it into a positive.”

Instead, he and his coaches have worked to build one of the nation’s most successful Division II programs on a foundation of playing rugged defense; running the football effectively; making special teams truly special; expanding the program’s recruiting region; recruiting the right kind of players; and then holding players accountable to high standards, on and off the field.

Post was a solid program before Collins became the head coach, but he’s been able to take it to new levels of success, both regionally and nationally. The key, as any coach will insist, is recruiting. Post has always recruited players from the Long Island region, but Collins and his staff expanded their recruiting range by traveling into the New York City schools for players. Post and other Northeast-10 schools don’t offer athletic scholarships, but they do offer grants based on needs, similar to Division III programs.

Collins also decided it was time to stop loading the roster with junior college players and transfers from upper-level programs and start building the program with four- and five-year players.

“We needed more stability from what we call ‘program kids,’” Collins says. “And socially, we wanted our student-athletes to be a positive part of this campus.”

Once those players arrived on campus, Collins and his staff demanded more discipline from those players, as athletes, students and members of the community. He told players he would no longer tolerate late-night phone calls from campus and local police, got the team involved in community service projects such as hospital visitations and preached to players about little things such as cafeteria behavior and other social manners.

“We’ve been very fortunate to get good players here,” Collins says, “but more importantly, to retain the good players we have. We also work on doing team unity things, things that will keep them here, keep them working together. When the new players come here, they can seen the type of commitment the players make to the program and to each other, and I think that inspires players to want to be a part of that.”

On the field, the Pioneers have made successful defense a yearly habit. Last year’s team led Division II in rushing defense for the third consecutive season. The Pioneers also led the nation in total defense for the second time in three years, and led the nation in scoring defense by allowing less than 10 points in seven games, including four shutouts. In the first seven games of the season, the defense even managed to score more points than it had allowed.

Combined with a physical running game and an aggressive approach to special teams, the Pioneers have two consecutive Northeast-10 championships after reaching the conference title game in 1999 and 2000. The 2001 Post team established a new school high in scoring with 488 points, and Pioneer special teams unit returned two kickoffs and three punts for scores, while also blocking a punt that was converted for six points.

This unparalleled level of success at Post is being put to the test by a younger, less experienced team this season, but the foundation remains strong and the Pioneers still have their sights set on conference and national success.

“That sometimes leads to our demise with the administration a little bit,” Collins says, laughing. “They can say ‘well, you’re doing just fine with what you have. You don’t need anything else.’ “

Of course, there’s always the possibility that Post will also need a new coach one of these days. Collins has been connected with coaching searches in the past and emerged as a serious candidate for one Ivy League head coaching position, but for now he’s too busy pushing forward to spend a lot of time on the phone positioning himself for other jobs.

If someone calls, he’ll listen. If the offer is serious, he’ll give it the serious consideration it deserves. In the meantime, there’s enough work to do at a Division II where a head coach must wear many hats. The Pioneers may be one of the nation’s better Division II program, but success isn’t something Collins, his coaches and his players can afford to assume.

“We’re always challenging ourselves to get better,” Collins says. “As long as you see a little bit of progress, it keeps you going. The ball is rolling. It might not be rolling as quickly as we want, but it’s moving, and there’s a sense of progress and direction.”






NEW BOOK!

AFM Videos Streaming Memberships Now Available Digital Download - 304 Pages of Football Forms for the Winning Coach



















HOME
MAGAZINE
SUBSCRIBE ONLINE COLUMNISTS COACHING VIDEOS


Copyright 2024, AmericanFootballMonthly.com
All Rights Reserved