Steve Collins enters his 22nd year as the head coach of the SMU women's swimming team. A two-time NCAA Coach of the Year, Collins has led the Ponies to ten consecutive conference championships (nine in WAC and one in C-USA) and continually finishes among the top teams in the NCAA. During his tenure, SMU has placed in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships 15 times and in the top five nine times, eight of those coming in consecutive years from 1992-1999. Last season, Collins led the Mustangs to a seventh-place finish at the NCAA's.
In the last decade, Collins' Mustang squad has brought home an unprecedented ten straight conference championships, eight conference Swimmer of the Year honors and eight conference Freshman of the Year honors. He led the Ponies to their highest finish ever at the NCAA Championships in 1996, when SMU finished second in the nation and earned Collins his second NCAA National Coach of the Year award. He was also tabbed with NCAA Coach of the Year in 1991. Collins was named SWC Coach of the Year in 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1996, and WAC Coach of the Year in 1997 and 1998. Collins guided the Mustangs through a smooth transition into Conference USA this past season. It their inaugural season in the conference, the Mustangs posted record-breaking performances to continue their decade of dominance.
At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Collins was the head coach of the Slovakian Olympic Team in Athens, Greece. Collins' swimmers at SMU have earned medals at the Olympic Games, World Championships, World University Games, European, Pan American Games, Mediterranean and African Championships. Since his arrival on the Hilltop in 1986, Collins has coached 28 Olympic stars, including 1997 NCAA Swimmer of the Year while at SMU and current SMU volunteer assistant coach Martina Moravcova, who won two silver medals at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney Australia and also competed in the 2004 summer games in Athens, Greece. Mustangs Anja Carman, Petra Klosova, Celina Lemmen and former Mustang Flavia Rigamonti also competed in the 2004 summer games.
A 1977 graduate of Florida State, Collins swam free and back events for the Seminoles and captained the Florida State team his senior year.
Before arriving on the Hilltop, Collins served six years as head coach of the South Carolina swimming program. Born Dec. 12, 1954, in Youngstown, Ohio, Collins attended Eastmoor High School in Columbus, Ohio. Collins and his wife Toni, an SMU graduate and CPA, are proud parents of twin daughters, Kate and Hanna.
