Tim Collins, who has been working on college basketball staffs the past seven years, is the new assistant coach for the men’s basketball program at Lewis-Clark State College, Warrior coach Tim Walker has announced.

Collins, who also is teaching Kinesiology classes at LCSC, replaces Pete VanMullen.  VanMullen was an assistant at LCSC for one season before he accepted a job as an instructor at Washington State University during the summer.

Collins spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Chadron State in Nebraska. The Eagles’ men’s basketball team is an NCAA Division II member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and helped the program make big strides under head coach Brent Bargen.  The Eagles’ roster included a number of players from California recruited by Collins.

Prior to that, Collins was director of basketball operations at Cal-State Fullerton for one season under coach Bob Burton.

“We are very excited to have someone of Tim's passion, attitude, and work ethic join our staff at Lewis-Clark State College,” Warrior coach Tim Walker said.  “Coach Collins will bring an incredible amount of knowledge to our program and campus.  He's a very good teacher and coach, excellent recruiter, and a young man of great character."

Collins, 25, began his coaching career by serving as a student assistant to the Loyola Marymount program for four years under coach Steve Aggers, who was also head coach at Eastern Washington University.

“All three head coaches that I have worked for have been great role models for me as a young coach.  They were all very competitive and they believed in the full development of the student-athlete.” Collins said.

Collins earned degrees in both Political Science and Humanities from Loyola Marymount in 2005 and then earned a Master’s degree in Sports Management and Organizational Management from Chadron State.

Collins grew up in Santa Monica, Calif., and attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles, where he competed on the basketball and track teams.

Collins’ says his family has been influential on his careers in coaching and education. He is extremely close with his mother who teaches in high school education.  Likewise, his uncle Terry Collins is currently the head coach at Daley College, a junior college located in Chicago.