Doug Collins (basketball)

Doug Collins

Collins as head coach of the 76ers in November 2010
Personal information
Born	(1951-07-28) July 28, 1951 Christopher, Illinois
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight	180 lb (82 kg)
Career information
High school	Benton (Benton, Illinois)
College	Illinois State (1967–1970)
NBA draft	1973 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1st overall
Selected by the Philadelphia 76ers
Playing career	1973–1981
Position	Shooting guard
Number	20
Coaching career	1986-2003, 2010–2013
Career history
As player:
1973–1981	Philadelphia 76ers
As coach:
1986–1989	Chicago Bulls
1995–1998	Detroit Pistons
2001–2003	Washington Wizards
2010–2013	Philadelphia 76ers
Career highlights and awards
As player: 3× NBA All-Star (1976–1978) Consensus first-team All-American (1973) As coach: NBA All-Star Game Coach (1997)
Career statistics
Points	7,427 (17.9 ppg)
Rebounds	1,339 (3.2 rpg)
Assists	1,368 (3.3 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2016
Medals Men's basketball Representing  United States Olympic Games 1972 Munich Team

Paul Douglas "Doug" Collins (born July 28, 1951) is an American retired basketball player and coach and current television analyst. He was the first overall pick of the 1973 NBA draft and a three-time NBA All-Star. He has been an NBA coach, coaching the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers. Currently, Collins serves as an analyst on the NBA on ESPN pre-game show NBA Countdown.^[1]

Biography

High school and college

Collins was born in Christopher, Illinois. He grew up in Benton, Illinois, where his next door neighbour was future film star John Malkovich. Collins enjoyed a successful high school basketball career at Benton High School, under renowned coach Rich Herrin, after which he went on to play for Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, in 1969.

1972 Olympics

Collins was chosen to represent the United States at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. While those games are mainly remembered for the terrorist attack that left eleven Israeli athletes dead, there was also the controversial gold medal basketball game between the United States and the Soviet Union, in which Collins played a key part. The United States was undefeated in Olympic basketball competition history, and widely expected to remain undefeated after these Olympics. After Collins hit two free throws near the end of the final game, the United States had a 50–49 lead. However, confusion over a timeout call and subsequent issues with the game clock led the game's officials to restart the game's final three seconds two times. On their final attempt, the Soviets made a layup to take a lead. This gave the U.S. its first ever Olympic loss by a 51–50 margin.^[2] Collins and his teammates refused to accept the silver medals after the game in protest of the officiating and outcome of the game.^[3]

Playing career

After that controversial game, Collins went on to be drafted first overall by the Philadelphia 76ers. He played eight seasons for Philadelphia, and was an all star three times. In 1976–77, he joined Julius Erving leading the Sixers to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Portland Trail Blazers.

A rash of injuries^[4] to his feet and left knee beginning in 1979, would end Collins' career in 1981. In all, he played 415 NBA games, scoring 7427 points (17.9 per game).

Post-playing career

After his retirement, Collins turned to coaching. He joined Bob Weinhauer's staff at the University of Pennsylvania as an assistant coach and later followed Weinhauer to Arizona State for the same job.^[5]

Coach of the Bulls

Collins took his first head coaching job with the Chicago Bulls in 1986. The method in which he was hired by Bulls GM Jerry Krause raised eyebrows around the NBA. Just 2 months before he replaced Stan Albeck, Collins had been hired as a scout for the Bulls. His hiring was kept secret from Albeck, the man whose job he would eventually take. He led the Bulls to a string of playoff appearances with a young Michael Jordan, including their best record in 15 years and an Eastern Conference Finals Appearance.^[6] Collins enjoyed regular season success with the Bulls, winning 137 games in his three full seasons as head coach and never missing the playoffs. Collins, however, was unable to get past Central Division rival the Detroit Pistons in the playoffs. The Bulls lost to the Pistons in 5 games in the 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals.^[7] Despite holding an early 2-1 series lead, the Bulls again lost to the Pistons in 6 games in the 1989 Eastern Conference Finals.^[8] The Conference Finals trip was the Bulls first trip to the conference finals since 1975. Despite that fact, Collins was fired in the summer of 1989.^[9]

Coach of the Pistons

Collins was named the head coach of the Detroit Pistons in 1995, and in his first season was able to improve the team's previous season's record by 18 games.^[10] In 1997 he coached the Eastern Conference All-Star team.^[11] He served as Pistons' head coach until February 2, 1998, when he was fired and replaced by Alvin Gentry. Collins then became a television broadcaster, working for many years at various networks, such as NBC on the NBA on NBC and TNT on the NBA on TNT.

Coach of the Wizards

He worked as a broadcaster for about five years, before being hired to coach the Washington Wizards, before the start of the 2001–02 NBA season. In Washington, Collins was reunited with Michael Jordan and Charles Oakley. Once again, in his first season with his new team, Collins improved the team's previous season's record by 18 games.^[12] Though his .451 winning percentage through 2 seasons was better than the Wizards' .308 record the previous 2 seasons (and subsequent .305 record the following season),^[12] Collins was fired at the conclusion of the 2002–03 season.

Return to broadcasting

After being fired by the Wizards, Collins returned to announcing games for TNT. In addition, he served as an analyst for NBC Sports' TV coverage of basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.^[13] He also was a basketball analyst for NBC during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.^[14]

During this time, Collins' name surfaced several times regarding head coaching vacancies. In 2005, he was a candidate for the Milwaukee Bucks job but was passed over for Terry Stotts.^[15] Collins was approached by the team again in 2008 to serve as their GM and coach but turned them down again.^[15] In May 2008, Collins was in negotiations to coach the Chicago Bulls, nearly 20 years after he was fired from the team.^[16] However, Collins withdrew his name when he and owner Jerry Reinsdorf "agreed it wasn't the best to keep going this way," in light of their close personal friendship.^[17]

Coach of the 76ers

On May 21, 2010, Collins was hired as head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers.^[18] While the 76ers initially started out poorly with a record of 3-13, the team showed improvement as the season went on, and clinched the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference for the playoffs. Under Collins, the team increased its win total by 14 games over the previous season. They lost to the eventual Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat in the first round, but were able to avoid a sweep that had been predicted. Collins finished second in Coach of the Year voting that season.^[19]

In the lockout-shortened 2011–2012 season, Collins led the Sixers to an improved record, but Philadelphia was only able to take the eighth seed in the playoffs. Against the top seeded Chicago Bulls, Collins led the Sixers to their first playoff series victory since 2003. It was the fifth time in NBA history that an eighth seed defeated a first seed in a playoff series. They took the next series against the Boston Celtics to seven games, but lost.

Collins resigned as 76ers coach on April 18, 2013, citing a need to spend more time with his five grandchildren.^[20][21] It was announced that he would stay with the team as an adviser.^[22]

Head coaching record

Personal life

Doug and his wife Kathy have two children. They reside in the Delaware Valley. Their son Chris, a former professional basketball player, is the head basketball coach at Northwestern University and their daughter Kelly, who played basketball at Lehigh University, is a school teacher in Pennsylvania.

Honors

Illinois State University's basketball court is named after Collins (Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena). A statue depicting Collins and his ISU coach, Will Robinson, was unveiled on September 19, 2009, outside the north entrance of Redbird Arena.

References

External links