John Collins is one of America’s most successful club coaches. Collins started coaching in 1970 at Rye YMCA which helped prepare him to take over the Badger Swim Club from his father in 1971. He is an All-American butterflier at Indiana University under the legendary coach, James “Doc” Counsilman. After Graduating from Indiana, he went on to graduate from Fordham Law School graduate in 1972. Collins has coached many world champions including Rick Carey (1983), Lea Loveless Maurer (1998), Tobie Smith (1998), Cristina Teuscher (2001), and Jenny Thompson (2003, 04) U.S. Olympic gold medalists include, Carey, Loveless, Teuscher, Thompson and most recently, Cody Miller.
Collins has been a U.S. National Team coach from 1984-2007, serving on numerous international trips with team USA including head coach in the 1995 Pan American Games, head coach of the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships, head coach of the 2001 World Championships, and most recently, head coach of the 2007 World Championships in Perth, Australia.
Collins was named “coach of the year” by the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) in 1983 and is an inductee in the Metropolitan Swimming Hall of Fame, the Westchester County Sports Hall of Fame and in the ASCA Hall of Fame.
In 2016, 17 Badger Swimmers qualified for the US Olympic Trials – a club record. John led Badger Swim Club to a USA Swimming Gold Medal Ranking in 2020 and 2021, highlighted by being ranked the #10 Club in the US in 2021.
John has demonstrated an unparalleled record of success over the past 6 decades…
Badger Swimmers on US Olympic Team in the following years
- 1980, 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2016
Badger Swimmers on US National Team in the following decades
- 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s, 2010’s,
Badger Swimmers on US Junior National Team in the following decades
- 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s, 2010’s and 2020’s
Miscellaneous Highlights
- 2x All-American at Indiana University under Doc Counsilman
- 1968 Graduate of Indiana University
- 1972 Graduate of Fordham Law School
- 1974-1986 Head Coach Manhattanville College Valiants
- 1983 ASCA Coach of the Year
- 1984-2007 USA National Team Coach
- 2007 World Championship Head Coach USA Women
- 2001 World Championship Head Coach USA Women
- 1990 USA Junior Team Head Coach (Talinn, Estonia)
- 1995 Pan American Games Head Coach USA Women
- 1997 Pan Pacific Games Head Coach USA Women
- 1998 Metropolitan Swimming Hall of Fame
- 1998 Perth World Championships Assistant Coach USA
- 1999 Sydney Pan Pacific Championships Assistant Coach USA
- 1998 Goodwill Games Assistant Coach USA
- 2004 Short Course World Championships Indianapolis Assistant Coach USA
- 2001 World Championship Head Coach USA Women
- 2007 World Championship Head Coach USA Women