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Hartnell Introduces New Football Coach

By DENNIS TAYLOR
Herald Staff Writer

The new football coach at Hartnell College, who was introduced Friday morning, said he intends to focus on bringing quality student-athletes to the school, meeting as many people in the community as he can, and raising the level of a program that has had a solid, and often outstanding, tradition under previous coaches Larry Souza and Marv Grim. He also expects to install an explosive, wide-open passing attack similar to the one that has brought great success to Santa Rosa Junior College, where he's been a receivers and special-teams coach for the past five years.

Matt Collins, 38, was hired from what Hartnell athletic director Dyan Miller called "a quality pool of candidates who applied for this job." Collins said he'll spend the coming days assembling a staff of assistants -- some of whom will be brought in from elsewhere -- and meeting with local high school coaches, graduating seniors and community members.

"I want it to be known that on Monday, April 9, at 3 p.m., we'll be meeting in room 138 (of the Hartnell Library) with all of our existing players," Collins said. "But I'd also like to invite any high school seniors who are not participating in spring sports to attend. I'd love to have as many local high school athletes as possible at that meeting, if they're at all considering Hartnell."

Collins succeeds Souza, who retired earlier this year after eight seasons as head coach of the Panthers.

At Santa Rosa, Collins was part of a tradition-rich program that, under head coach Keith Simons, has produced 85 All-NorCal Conference players, six conference MVPs, three regional MVPs, and 17 All-Americans over the past decade. The Bear Cubs have participated in six consecutive bowl games, winning five.

Much of that success can be attributed to the wide-open offense, a version of which he intends to bring with him to Hartnell.

"Our offense will be very similar to the one we ran at Santa Rosa -- a wide-open, high-profile passing attack that has led the nation in a variety of categories during the years I've been there," he said. "There also will be some running-game wrinkles that I won't elaborate on right now. We'll save those for game day."

Collins was born and reared in San Francisco and attended Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa, which has one of California's strongest athletic traditions. He went on to play wide receiver at Santa Rosa JC, then played baseball at Sonoma State, where he was a member of three consecutive Northern California Athletic Conference championship teams. His career as an assistant football coach included stints at Mendocino College, where he coached receivers and special teams, Sacramento City College, where he coached outside linebackers, strong safeties and special teams, and American River College, where he was in charge of the defensive secondary and special teams.

"When we started our search, we had a vision, and there were two things we were looking for," Miller said. "First, we wanted someone who would win games and put a quality product on the field. We wanted someone who would fill The Pit (Hartnell's home field at Salinas High), and someone who would bring fun to the game.

"Secondly, we wanted somebody who would recruit good men into our program -- people who were not only athletes, but also scholars. That's a very important part of our mission here at Hartnell College," she said.

Last year at Santa Rosa, Collins helped coach a team that led the state in scoring (43.7 points per game), passing yards (4,240) and touchdown receptions (48). Four different wide receivers had 60 catches or more for the Bear Cubs.

He expects his experience as a student-athlete at the junior college level to be an asset at Hartnell -- he says he understands the type of person who chooses to attend a junior college and the reasons why -- and he says his formula for building a successful program is a relatively simple one.

"When I was asked during the interview process where I thought this program might be in three years, the first instinct, obviously, is to talk about wins and losses," he said. "But that's a battle that's going to be won as a result of finding great people in our community, putting great people in our classrooms and great people on the playing field. If we do those things the way my coaching staff will be prepared to help us do them, we're going to end up with a ton of wins and some championships. That's a traditional victory formula for any program."

Collins, who will teach in Hartnell's physical education department, holds a bachelor's degree in communications from Sonoma State, and a master's degree in athletic administration from St. Mary's College in Moraga.