Cliff Collins returns to EMCC’s football coaching staff as defensive coordinator

SCOOBA – A 12-year mainstay on Buddy Stephens' East Mississippi Community College football coaching staff, Cliff Collins has returned to the Scooba campus as the Lions' defensive coordinator. The announcement was made this week by Stephens.

"We are extremely excited to have Cliff and his family back with the EMCC family. He has been a very important part of the program we have built here in Scooba," Stephens said. "The defensive success during his years here is a testament to his knowledge and work ethic as a football coach, but it is also his leadership and guidance off the field that makes him an elite coach and mentor."

Collins' previous dozen years on Stephens' EMCC football coaching staff were split between an eight-year stint (2008-15) as the team's defensive backs coach and an initial four-year stay (2017-20) as the Lions' defensive coordinator. During his previous 12 years at East Mississippi, Collins played an integral role in the Lions compiling an overall record of 105-16 (.868) and a division mark of 60-6 (.909). During that span, EMCC claimed five national (NJCAA) championships, six conference (MACCC/MACJC) titles and eight division crowns.

"It's a privilege and an honor to be back home here on the Scooba campus and rejoin Hall of Fame Coach Buddy Stephens and the rest of this outstanding coaching staff," Collins said. "We have previously achieved tremendous success together here, and I look forward to helping carry on the Lions' championship tradition for many years to come."

In addition to the 100-plus victories and the vast championship hardware that he previously helped the Lions assemble, Collins also proved instrumental in the process of sending players to compete at the next level. Nearly 100 former EMCC Lions that he helped coach and mentor on the defensive side of the football went on to play for four-year universities.

Collins' impact on EMCC's prior defensive success became even more apparent during the Lions' most recent national championship season (2018) when they led the NJCAA in scoring defense while limiting the opposition to an average of only 11.2 points per game. EMCC also ranked second nationally with 48 quarterback sacks in 2018 en route to claiming a second straight national championship and third consecutive conference title.

Previously as part of Stephens' original EMCC coaching staff, Collins helped tutor a crop of talented Lion defensive backs that included four NJCAA All-Americans. During their initial back-to-back national championship seasons, the Lions ranked second among NJCAA team statistical leaders with 30 pass interceptions in 2013 and then tied for third nationally with 21 picks the following year.

A former defensive secondary standout for the Ole Miss Rebels, Collins briefly returned to the NCAA ranks in between his previous pair of EMCC coaching stints by serving as Jackson State University's defensive backs coach under the guidance of head coach Tony Hughes during the 2016 season. In Collins' one season at JSU, the Tigers led the Southwestern Athletic Conference in pass defense along with ranking second in total defense and third in opponents' third down conversions.

Collins most recently spent the past four seasons (2021-24) serving as the head football coach of his junior college alma mater at Southwest Mississippi Community College. In addition to having a total of 24 players earn MACCC All-South Division honors, he also helped mentor as many as 60 Bear players who have gone on to compete at the university level.

Prior to his first EMCC coaching stint, Collins divided a total of four years between Southwest Mississippi and Hinds Community College. At Southwest, he served as the Bears' defensive backs coach and recruiting coordinator during the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

During Collins' initial MACCC coaching stint at Hinds as the linebackers coach, the 2004 Eagles squad ranked ninth in the final NJCAA poll and finished as conference runners-up with a 9-2 overall record.

A native of Gloster, Miss., Collins played safety and linebacker at Ole Miss. Off the field, he was a member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll in 2001 and went on to earn his bachelor's degree in sociology. Following his playing career in Oxford, Collins was invited by head coach David Cutcliffe to serve as a student assistant on the Rebels' 2002 Independence Bowl team.

Collins' collegiate playing career began at Southwest Mississippi, where he played quarterback and wide receiver as a freshman before switching to defense as a sophomore safety under head coach Kenneth Edenfield. Collins capped his SMCC career by playing in the 2000 MACJC title game.

Collins was a two-sport prep standout at Amite County High School in Liberty, Miss., where he claimed individual accolades as an all-state senior quarterback and was a member of the Trojans' record-setting 4x200-meter relay team.

Having earned his master's degree in adult continuing education from the University of West Alabama in 2020, Collins and his wife, Gernika (Henry), of Ridgeland, Miss., are the parents of a son, Parys, and a daughter, Caiya.