Winthrop University Athletics

John Collins took the helm as the head coach of the Winthrop men’s tennis program in August 2015 after previously serving as a graduate assistant coach with the Eagles.
 
Collins led the Eagles to the 2018 Big South Conference regular season championship with an undefeated 7-0 league record. The squad advanced to the Big South Conference Championship final match, finishing as runner up in a narrow 4-3 loss. It was the second championship for Collins with Winthrop; in Collins’ first season with the Eagles as a graduate assistant, he helped lead Winthrop to the 2015 Big South Conference Championship title.
 
Collins has seen at least one student-athlete named to the Big South All-Conference teams each year of his time at Winthrop, with four players earning the honor in 2018. Under Collins’ development, Diego Quiroz was a four-time All-Conference honoree - one of only 13 players in Big South men's tennis history to achieve the feat. Tremayne Mitchell was a three-time All-Conference honoree. Collins coached doubles tandem Diego Quiroz and Ruy Teixeira to a career-high ITA National Doubles Ranking of No. 42 in the fall of 2017 as they reached the quarterfinals of the ITA Carolinas Regional Tournament, the first national ranking for Collins as a head coach.
 
Collins’ squads have been recognized as ITA All-Academic Teams each year of his leadership, meeting the requirement of maintaining at least a 3.2 team GPA. For the Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 semesters, the team set new records for team-highs in cumulative GPA, with both semesters over a 3.5.
 
Prior to his arrival at Winthrop, Collins served as a volunteer assistant coach at Elon University where he assisted in coaching Cameron Silverman at the 2014 NCAA Singles Championships and helped Elon to its best year in program history with a No. 39 ITA team national ranking. Collins was a student assistant coach in 2013 at the University of Tennessee after the conclusion of his collegiate playing career.
 
Collins was a strong collegiate player, ranked as high as sixth nationally in doubles as a senior at Tennessee and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Team Championship with the fifth-ranked Volunteers. Collins played his first three years of competition at the University of Maryland, reached No. 9 nationally in doubles and a No. 121 national ranking in singles and helped make program history as the Terrapins advanced to the NCAA Team Championship for the first time ever in 2011, defeating No. 18 Michigan in the first round. A leader on his teams, Collins was a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) representative all four years of his collegiate career.
 
Collins is certified as a Professional Tennis Instructor by the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) and has also coached several ranked junior players.