Former Thunderbird Jay Collins dies unexpectedly at 41
Jay Collins, head basketball coach at Northwest College (WY) and a former guard at Southern Utah, has died unexpectedly. Collins was 41.
According to the Powell (WY) Tribune's Seth Romsa, Collins died Saturday. Collins was set to begin his fourth year at the helm of the men's basketball program at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming.
Collins was a NJCAA All-American in 2000-01, at Cochise College (AZ) before transferring to Southern Utah, where he played from 2001-2003. Collins still holds the single-season assist record (178) at SUU.
Collins went on to play for the Idaho Stampede of the Developmental League in 2003.
He began his coaching career at Texas-PanAmerican in 2005, and went on to coach at Upper Iowa, Cochise College and Northern Arizona. In 2013, he joined his former coach Bill Evans on the staff at Idaho State before accepting the head coach position at Northwest College in 2019.