After 30 years of coaching, including 13 as an assistant at the U-of-I from the early 1980s to the mid 90s, Jimmy Collins announced on Tuesday that he is retiring as UIC’s head basketball coach.
How the current Illinois basketball staff will be affected by the ensuing UIC coaching search (with assistants Jerrance Howard and Jay Price both seeming like strong candidates in my opinion, as well as Wisconsin assistant Howard Moore, according to Joe Henricksen of the City/Suburban Hoops Report) is certainly a story that has deservedly garnered much attention.
With that said, now’s the time to reflect on Collins, specifically his years at Illinois, where he was a popular assistant/key recruiter during the Flyin’ Illini era and a major figure in the bogus yet crippling Deon Thomas investigation that ultimately resulted in probation for the men’s basketball program and also did some serious harm to Collins’ public reputation.
Of course, Collins was linked to former Illinois Head Coach Lou Henson prior to joining him as an assistant in Champaign-Urbana back in 1983. Collins was a star guard for Henson’s New Mexico State teams in the late 60s and capped his three-year career with an appearance in the 1970 Final Four.
Collins was then drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the 1970 NBA Draft. He didn’t play long in the NBA, though, and would return to New Mexico State as a graduate assistant before leaving coaching and working various jobs in Chicago.
When returning to the sidelines at Illinois, Collins became known as a big-time recruiter, helping bring Kendall Gill, Lowell Hamilton and notable Public League players like Nick Anderson of Simeon and Marcus Liberty of King to the Illini at a time when DePaul was still a major player in Chicago.
Those players, along with Kenny Battle, Stephen Bardo, Larry Smith and Ervin Small, would form the “Flying Illini” and lead the school to the Final Four in 1989.
Of course, the player that Collins is most remembered for recruiting is Simeon product and all-time Illinois leading scorer Deon Thomas, who was coveted in the late eighties by many schools, including Iowa.
At the time, then-Hawkeye assistant and current Tennessee Head Coach Bruce Pearl accused Collins of offering Thomas $80,000 and a Chevy Blazer to attend Illinois, alleging that Thomas told him so and that he had the proof in taped conversations (Thomas said that he did not know that he was being taped, later resulting in a civil lawsuit against Pearl, and added that he merely agreed “with Pearl in hopes that he’d leave him alone,” as detailed in a 1993 Chicago Tribune story).
Thomas would vehemently deny (he continues to do so to this day) that Illinois offered him anything.
Ultimately, Thomas would be cleared of any wrongdoing, and Pearl’s claims were unsubstantiated during a comprehensive NCAA investigation that still had terrible repercussions on the Illini men’s basketball program and Collins.
Illinois would be cited for “lack of institutional control,” resulting in a two-year probation in 1990, a ban from the 1991 NCAA tournament, and the loss of scholarships and recruiting privileges.
The book A Century of Orange and Blue described how the investigation had affected the Illini heading into the 1991-1992 season:
"Henson’s chief recruiter, Jimmy Collins, would be withheld from recruiting on the road for more than two years, and Henson was limited to two scholarships, handing them out to forwards Robert Bennet and Marc Davidson."
In A Century…, Collins provided some insight on how the Deon Thomas investigation had personally affected him while recalling a 118-85 Illinois victory against Iowa at a raucous Assembly Hall on March 4, 1990:
"It was a game of emotions, and for me I was so angry going into that a lot of the details of that game slipped past me. I harbored a lot of anger and it almost caused me to go to counseling. It was a game that pacified me somewhat, because we beat them pretty bad."
Nearly three years later, Collins and the Illini were still feeling the aftereffects of the investigation when #9-ranked Iowa traveled to the Assembly Hall on February 4, 1993, a day that is remembered for Illinois senior Andy Kaufmann hitting an incredible buzzer-beater to clip the Hawkeyes 78-77.
Former Illini T.J. Wheeler recalled Collins’ reaction after that shot:
"I don’t know who was happier at that moment, Andy Kaufmann or Coach Collins. Coach Collins came running over to me and we hugged right in front of the Iowa bench. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to leave because he wouldn’t let go."
Then Illinois assistant coach Mark Coomes (who would become an assistant for Collins at UIC) commented on the magnitude of Kaufmann’s shot during the Iowa-Illinois Cold War:
"The wounds were still open and we were still going through Hell from the investigation. That shot was vindication at its best."
While the Illini would have Kaufmann’s shot and a few more solid moments in the remaining Henson years (e.g. beating Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium early in the 1995-1996 season), the road to recovery from the scholarship limitations was a long time coming, according to then-Illini forward Thomas Michael:
"Being in the middle of the it (the investigation), we didn’t feel the punishment was fitting. Being Deon’s roommate as a freshman, I didn’t think what was happening was going to equate to what we ended up getting . . . no tournament and the loss of scholarships. That probably held us back until the late ‘90s, when we finally won the Big Ten title in 1998."
Of course, by 1998, Henson had retired from Illinois (following a difficult 1995-1996 season), and Collins was at UIC.
While Henson recommended Collins as his replacement, Illinois went with Florida’s Lon Kruger, a move that disappointed Collins at the time.
Ironically, Kruger’s first game at Illinois was against none other than Collins’ Flames, with then-Illini junior forward and current basketball radio announcer Jerry Hester providing his memories of the 68-63 Illini victory at the UIC Pavilion:
"That was Jimmy Collins’ first game coaching against Illinois and it was a weird feeling. We knew the whole UIC coaching staff. It was family, and we wanted to win badly. Down the stretch, Kiwane [Garris] and I had a big run of points and we put it away."
In facing Illinois numerous other times while coaching at UIC, Collins would express his appreciation to the university, speaking along the lines that it was a privilege for the Flames to play the Illini. When announcing his retirement two days ago, Collins would thank Henson for bringing him to Illinois.
As for Pearl, Collins would not offer similar appreciation when the former Iowa assistant wound up in the Horizon League as the head coach at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.
Collins would refuse to shake hands with Pearl whenever UIC played UWM, including after UIC’s 2004 Horizon League Tournament championship victory against the Panthers.
Now 63, Collins said that he needs a break from a career marked by some controversy but also some incredible highs.
Make no mistake about it: UIC had fallen on some difficult times under Collins since the 2004 NCAA Tournament, having some troubles recruiting and winning games, and this move certainly makes sense for both parties involved.
While UIC fans may not have been happy with the direction of the team in the last 6 seasons for very justifiable reasons, they should be appreciative that Collins brought a face to the program in his 14 years and took the Flames to previously undiscovered waters (the NCAA Tournament 3 times).
As for many Illinois fans, Collins remains a popular figure for not only helping build the unforgettable Flyin’ Illini but even more so displaying resilience during a trying time in the program’s history and his own life.