After former FGCU women’s soccer assistant coach Ben Boehner departed for the same position at Syracuse in early February, head coach Jim Blankenship has hired Scott Collins as his new assistant coach.
Joining FGCU after a four-year tenure at the University of Arkansas, Collins joins the Eagles after a 6-11-1 2015 campaign with the Razorbacks.
“I want to thank head coach Jim Blankenship and assistant coach Melissa Miller as well as Director of Athletics Ken Kavanagh and the rest of the hiring committee for entrusting me with this opportunity to join the FGCU family,” Collins told FGCU Athletics. “I also want to thank Colby Hale and the Razorback soccer staff for all their advice and guidance throughout my four incredible years at the University of Arkansas. I am fully aware of the high standards and the incredible tradition of success that the women’s soccer program and the athletics department has established, and I look forward to contributing to the continued success and development of each student athlete along with the women’s soccer program.”
Helping guide Arkansas to a third and second round appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2013 and 2014, Collins joins an FGCU program that made it to the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament, the farthest the program has ever gone in the tournament.
In his new role as an Eagle, Collins will be the recruiting coordinator and will be in charge of gathering scouting information, video analysis and scheduling to go along with his duties on the pitch training with players and goalkeepers.
Collins will join Blankenship and Miller on the sidelines for the 2016 season, as the trio embark on their journey for the program’s unprecedented seventh-straight Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season title with hopes of reaching new heights in the NCAA tournament.