Coach Isaac Collins, who will begin his sixth season in 2018, is the third head coach in Seton Hill football history. Last season, Seton Hill had two players named the All PSAC West team and two more named to the Don Hansen's All Region Team.
In 2016, the Griffins reached the five win mark for the first time since the 2008 season. The team finished first in the country in passing offense and sixth in the country in total offense. Three Griffins earned All PSAC West honors. In 2015, the Griffins won three games for the second straight season including a huge win over NCAA Division II Quarterfinalist Slippery Rock. The team also had five All PSAC West selections.
Collins has also coached Tyler Zimmer who was named a Capital One Academic All American first team selection for two straight seasons.
Collins is an experienced football coach with stints in Division I-AA and Division III schools and in the National Football League with the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles through the Minority Fellowship Program.
Collins comes to Seton Hill from Widener University. As head football coach and defensive coordinator, Collins led the team to capture the 2012 Mid-American Conference (MAC) with a 11-1 record and 2011 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Atlantic South Bowl Championship. He has had numerous MAC All-Conference defensive and offensive players, Rookies of the Year, All-Region, All-Conference and All-American players. Collins recognizes the importance of excellence both on the field and in the classroom; 24 of his players were named to the MAC Academic Honor Roll. Collins was named 2012 MAC Coach of the Year and was honored by the Maxwell Touchdown Club as Tri State Coach of the Year.
In three years as Widener’s head coach, Collins brought the University back into prominence with a 25-8 record that includes an 11-1 mark this season, a #8 national ranking according to the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and #10 according to D3Football.com. In 2012, The Pride led the nation with 45.8 points a game (5th in DIII) and was fourth with 10.5 tackles for loss a contest and fourth with 0.33 sacks allowed a game. In 2011, Widener led Division III is scoring at 47.1 points per game.
From 2006-09, Collins served as defensive coordinator for The Citadel where he faced teams including Clemson, Florida, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Texas A&M and Wisconsin. Collins’ defense in 2007 led the Southern Conference in total defense. In his four years with The Citadel, Collins coached nine All-Southern Conference defenders.
Collins was the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Delaware in 2005, associate head coach and defensive coordinator at College of the Holy Cross in 2004 and assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Lehigh University from 2000-03. He was an assistant coach at Columbia University from 1998-2000. Collins also was an assistant coach at Hobart College from1994-98, serving as defensive coordinator his final year.
Collins participated in the National Football League (NFL) Minority Fellowship Program as an assistant secondary coach with both the New York Giants (1999) and Philadelphia Eagles (2001); through this program, Collins had the opportunity to assist with the installment of all aspects of the defensive system, development and implementation of practice pertaining to defensive secondary and pass defense and with special teams drills in practice.
Collins earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1994 from the University of Rochester, where he was one of the school’s top running backs and captain of the team in 1993. He was a four-year letter winner who rushed at least 100 yards 14 times in his career and helped the team with the 1992 University Athletic Association (UAA) title. Collins also was a two-time All-UAA pick and the 1992 UAA Co-Offensive Player of the Year. In 2012, Collins was inducted into both the University of Rochester Hall of Fame and Geneva Sports Hall of Fame for Geneva High School. A 1990 alumnus of Geneva, he had a standout high school football career.
Collins will be residing in the Greensburg area with his wife Ada and children Kayla age 18, Jaylen age 17, Alina age 9 and Jacob 6 years old.
