ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop athletic director Tom Hickman has named John Collins as interim men's tennis coach for 2015-16 to replace Sergey Belov who stepped down from the position after one season due to issues with his immigration status.
 
Belov, a Russian citizen who earned a bachelor's and master's degree from Winthrop, directed the Eagles to the 2015 Big South Conference championship and an appearance in the first round of the NCAA Regionals.
 
Collins served as a volunteer assistant in the men's tennis program this past season after serving as the women's tennis graduate assistant coach in 2013-14. He has also served as a volunteer assistant at Elon and as a student assistant at Tennessee.

In addition to his collegiate coaching experience, Collins has served as a coach and instructor with ranked juniors at the Knoxville (TN) Racquet Club and has also served as a tennis instructor at Bel-Air Bath & Tennis in Bowie, MD.

As a three-year player at Maryland before the program was cut, Collins helped lead the Terrapins to the 2011 NCAA Tournament where they knocked off Michigan in the first round. After transferring to Tennessee in 2012, he was ranked as high as 6th in the ITA doubles rankings and 120th in singles.  He advanced to the SEC Tournament finals as the No. 2 seed and helped the Volunteers reach a national ranking of 5th. 

Prior to college, he was ranked as high as 13th nationally by the USTA Boy's 18's and was ranked No. 1 in the USTA Mid-Atlantic Section in the Boy's 18's.