Rob Collins - Swimming & Diving Coach - University of Tennessee Athletics

Rob Collins

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
rcolli45@utk.edu

Entering his third season on Rocky Top with the 2023-24 campaign, Rob Collins serves as an assistant coach for the Tennessee swimming & diving program.

“We’re thrilled to add Rob to our Tennessee coaching staff,” director of swimming & diving Matt Kredich said. “Rob has been one of the most successful club coaches in the U.S. for the past several years, and I mean successful by the standards that we hold at Tennessee. He’s helped create personal, athletic and academic development in the athletes he coached, and his teams exemplified high-level performance and great team culture. Rob’s ability to connect with people along with his deck presence and energy make him one of the brightest coaches in the country today.”

In his first season as an assistant in 2021-22, Collins helped Tennessee to postseason success in both programs. The Lady Vols won their second SEC Championship in three years in dominant fashion, totaling 17 medals won, including seven gold. UT followed up the performance by posting its fourth consecutive top-10 finish at the NCAA Championships, as the group hauled in 28 All-America honors and five podium finishes. Freshman Ellen Walshe was named the 2022 SEC Co-Swimmer of the Year and SEC Freshman of the Year for her performances throughout the season. She became the first swimmer in SEC history to win the 100 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM during the same SEC Championships. She won a combined seven medals en route to being named the SEC Swimmer of the Meet and receiving the prestigious Commissioner's Trophy as the top overall points scorer.

On the men's side in 2021-22, the Vols earned their best finish at the SEC Championships since 2001, tying for second overall behind 10 medals won, with one gold, five silver and four bronze. Freshman Jordan Crooks was named SwimSwam's Breakout Swimmer of the Year after exploding on to the scene in the freestyle sprints. Crooks won gold at SECs in the 50 free, brought home silver in the 100 free and earned bronze in the 100 fly. He owns the fastest times ever by a freshman in the 50 free (18.53) and 100 free (41.16), both of which are also Tennessee program records. En route to earning seven All-America honors, he received first team honors after finishing tied for third in the 50 free and placing fifth in the 100 free, marking the only freshman in the country to qualify for the A finals in either event.

During the 2022-23 campaign, the Vols and Lady Vols excelled with each notching top-ten finishes at NCAAs in the same season for the first time ever. Both teams also placed in the top three during the SEC Championships. The men's squad featured Jordan Crooks, the SEC Swimmer of the Year who became the second swimmer to ever swim under 18 seconds in the 50 free en route to one of his four SEC crowns. Crooks also tallied seven First Team All-American certificates, along with being the NCAA Champion in the 50 free. For the Lady Vols, Mona McSharry and Brooklyn Douthwright lead the way, each notching SEC titles as well as national runner-up finishes at NCAAs. Along with them, Josephine Fuller was awarded SwimSwam Breakout Swimmer of the Year honors after earning First Team All-American certificates in the backstrokes and three silver medals at SECs.

Collins, who works with both the Vols and Lady Vols swimming teams, spent four years as the CEO and head coach for the highly-regarded Sierra Marlins Swim Team in Folsom, California. The club produced multiple Olympians throughout the years and received its second-straight gold medal recognition from USA Swimming’s National Club Excellence Program following the 2021 campaign.

A rising star in the profession, Collins was one of three coaches to earn 2020 SwimSwam U.S. Club Coach of the Year honorable mention and was named the 2019 Sierra Nevada Swimming Senior Coach of the Year. He coached the men’s team to a championship at the 2019 Winter Junior Nationals West. Current Vol Jack Gillespie and Lady Vol signee Amber Myers were members of the Marlins squad under Collins’ direction.

“I’m so excited to join the swimming staff with the legendary Tennessee Vols and Lady Vols,” said Collins. “I want to say thank you to Matt Kredich for trusting me with this opportunity of a lifetime. I’m so blessed to work with such a phenomenal staff. I can’t wait to get started on Rocky Top.”

No stranger to Knoxville, Collins acted as a senior coach for Tennessee Aquatics for two years from 2015-17, helping the club to a third-place finish at the 2017 USA Swimming Futures Championships. While with the program, he coached a pair of active swimmers in the UT swimming program: Thomas Horne and Annie Rimmer. Collins also served stints as the head senior coach at the Otter Swim Club (2012-15), program director for the Walla Walla Swim Club (2010-12) and head age group coach with the South San Francisco Aquatic Club (2006-10).

The Pendleton, Oregon, native swam in college, competing at Central Washington for two years until the program was cut. Collins finished out his swimming career at San Francisco State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology in 2009. He later earned a master's degree in sport business management from the University of San Francisco in 2015.