Defensive Coordinator
Isaac Collins
Isaac Collins enters his fourth year with the Bulldog Football program. Joining The Citadel staff in December 2005, Collins began his second tenure as defensive coordinator with Bulldog Head Coach Kevin Higgins. In 2000, he joined Higgins’ staff at Lehigh as the secondary coach and served as recruiting coordinator.

In just his second season at the helm, the Bulldog defense was ranked at the top of the Southern Conference in opponent first downs allowed, red zone defense and total defense, and had three first team All-Conference selections.

Collins came to The Citadel from the University of Delaware where he coached the secondary and served as the recruiting coordinator. Prior to Delaware, he spent five seasons in the Patriot League at Lehigh and College of the Holy Cross. Collins, while at Holy Cross, served as associate head coach, defensive coordinator and coached the secondary.
A 1994 graduate of the University of Rochester (N.Y.) with a degree in political science, Collins, 36, has spent his entire coaching career mentoring young men on the East Coast. He began at Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y. in 1994 and served for five seasons as running backs coach, junior varsity head coach and defensive backs coach until 1997. He also served as Hobart’s defensive  coordinator, recruiting coordinator and chairperson of the Academic Retention Committee and was an assistant director of the Hobart summer football camp.

In 1998, Collins moved up to the NCAA I-AA level. He coached the running backs for two seasons in 1998 and 1999 at Columbia University in New York City. During his coaching tenure, Collins has directly coached 11 all-conference selections.

In addition to his coaching at the collegiate level, Collins gained valuable experience working two summers in the National Football League Minority Fellowship Program. In 1999, he assisted with the secondary of the New York Giants and in 2001 worked with the secondary of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Orginally from upstate New York, Collins was a four-year varsity athlete at Rochester, lettering in football, serving as a team captain as a senior in 1993 and earning the honor of conference offensive player of the year in 1992. He finished his career in 1993 as the second leading rusher in school history and was an all-conference selection in 1992 and 1993.
Collins, his wife, Ada, daughter, Kayla (8) and son, Jaylen (7) and daughter, Alina (six months) reside in Charleston.