Early career Collins graduated from
Rockdale County High School in
Conyers, Georgia, where he played for coach and mentor Jeff Beggs. He went on to play football at
Western Carolina University. Following his graduation, Collins served as a student assistant at Western Carolina, his alma mater, during the 1993 and 1994 seasons. Following a year coaching high school, Collins became the linebacker coach for
Fordham in 1996 before becoming the defensive coordinator at
Albright College from 1997 through 1998. Collins left Albright to become a
graduate assistant at
Georgia Tech under
George O'Leary for the 1999 and 2000 seasons. Following two years in the GA position, Georgia Tech promoted Collins to tight ends coach at for the 2001 season. Collins returned to his alma mater to become Western Carolina's defensive coordinator from 2002 through 2005 before returning to Georgia Tech in 2006 as the Director of Player Personnel through 2007. After a year at
Alabama as the Director of Player Personnel, Collins was reunited with O'Leary at
UCF as linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator from 2008 through 2009. In 2014, Collins' Mississippi State defense led the SEC in sacks and had the conference's No. 1 Red Zone defense en route to a 10-3 record. He was nicknamed the "Minister of Mayhem" at MSU. He coached several linebackers that later went to the
NFL, including
Fletcher Cox,
Florida (2015–2016) Collins spent two years as the defensive coordinator at
Florida underneath
Jim McElwain. While with the Gators, Collins oversaw a defense that ranked No. 6 in scoring defense in 2016 and No. 11 in 2015. During the 2015 season, Collins' defense became just the seventh team in the last 20 years to not allow a touchdown against three FBS Power 5 schools on the road in the same season. During his time at Florida, Collins coached five defensive players that were drafted in the
2016 NFL draft and produced a consensus All-American in
Vernon Hargreaves. Hargreaves and safety
Keanu Neal were drafted in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft. and 2016. Following the 2015 season, Collins was a candidate to replace O'Leary as the head coach at UCF, although the position ultimately went to
Scott Frost.
Temple (2017–2018) Collins secured his first head coaching job in December 2016 when he was named
Matt Rhule's successor at
Temple. Collins had previously worked alongside Rhule at Albright College and Western Carolina. In Collins' first season, Temple went 7–6 and won the
2017 Gasparilla Bowl, the program's first bowl win since 2011 and just its third bowl win overall. In his second season, the Owls started off 0-2 but finished the regular season 8–4 overall and 7–1 in conference play. The Owls qualified for the
2018 Independence Bowl as a result. Along the way, Collins surpassed
Steve Addazio as the winningest Temple coach over the first two seasons of their tenure at the school. He coached
Rock Ya-Sin, a second round pick in the
2019 NFL draft.
Georgia Tech (2019–2022) On December 7, 2018, Collins was named the 20th head coach of
Georgia Tech football. He coached six Yellow Jackets who were drafted by the NFL, including
Tyler Davis,
Jalen Camp,
Pressley Harvin III,
Tariq Carpenter,
Keion White,
Jordan Mason and
Jahmyr Gibbs, as well as the free agent
Nathan Cottrell. Collins had a record of 10-28 at Georgia Tech, the lowest winning percentage for a permanent head coach in the program's history. Assistant head coach
Brent Key took over as interim head coach, who later became the permanent head coach.
North Carolina (2024) Collins was hired by
Mack Brown as defensive coordinator at UNC Chapel Hill, replacing previous defensive coordinator
Gene Chizik. Coach Collins was not retained and was replaced by a former Patriots assistant, Steve Belichick. In July 2025, Collins was hired to be on the staff of The University of South Carolina. == Personal life ==