AD hopeful Collins gives his pitch

Tim Collins came into the search effort to become the next athletics director at Eastern Washington University as one of three finalists.

Not long after his on-campus interviews June 1 and a public forum that followed in Spokane, Collins was suddenly one of just two seeking to follow the retiring Lynn Hickey in the AD seat.

Elizabeth Jarnigan, who was to have gone through the same process June 5, withdrew from the pool that also included Jim Sarrá, Jr. Jarnigan accepted the position of Senior Associate AD for Internal affairs/Senior Women's Administrator at North Dakota under former EWU AD, Bill Chaves.

Collins came to the public forum at the Catalyst Building in Spokane with a plan as if he had already gotten the nod from the selection committee.

That vision included how his first 100-days on the job might look.

"First thing we're going to do is we're going to develop a comprehensive understanding of our current athletics program and our departments," Collins said. The goal being to gather insights and understand strengths and opportunities for improvement.

And part of his strategy is to offer an open-door policy focused on being accessible. Collins, however, is suggesting those doors swing both ways where his job will be to go out and "Meet people on their turf."

Those interactions might be one-on-one, "Is this 10 of us together? Is this is this at Rotary? What does that look like?," Collins said.

It's certainly a full plate that awaits the next AD and Collins used the comparison of him being ready to be drinking from a firehose should he win the job.

As the possible next leader of athletics at EWU Collins would have a significant amount of decision-making power.

But he seems to value collaboration as one of his tools.

"The athletic director is going to have a say in what success looks like an athletic department," Collins said. "But so is my campus, so is my President, so are my alumni, so are my student athlete alumni; we're going to engage these people, as a part of our as a part of our action plan."

Collins currently serves as Fresno State's Senior Associate Athletics Director for Development, meaning he's had success in doing something Eastern has always struggled to achieve - raise money.

Starting with the Bulldogs in 2018, Collins is currently responsible for leading and managing all revenue development and fundraising activities for the Department of Athletics, including supervision of fundraising initiatives in the Bulldog Foundation.

He told the public forum of the successful path taken to building an additional weight training facility on campus - and doing so in the throes of COVID-19.

In his previous stop in Laramie at the University of Wyoming from 2013 to 2018, Collins was an integral part in raising the necessary resources for a variety of capital improvement projects. Those included the construction and implementation of $30M worth of renovations to the Arena-Auditorium, plus fundraising for locker room renovations.

Eastern has had a variety of plans on the books for years to renovate its football stadium, Roos Field, which is approaching 60 years of age.

Athletics at EWU faces other continued money challenges, including its reliance of general fund dollars to keep it a Division-I program. But Collins reminded that in general athletic departments are about 50% self-generated and 50% institutional support.

Letting the university understand how his department is stewarding those funds, "And being respectful with them," is am important tool in

And like others in the business, Collins pointed out how intercollegiate sports are considered the "front porch" of both Eastern and other institutions. Athletics provides exposure to the school at a cost and level that might not otherwise be available, hence the investment.

Afforded the luxury and comfort of a suite at Roos Field during football season is one of the perks that comes with the AD job. Those quarters provide the environment to "wine and dine" potential donors.

But Collins would bring a bit of the Laramie tradition to Cheney where the AD joins fans in the stands for a quarter at each game.

"There were some incredible people, some incredible fans that are out there," Collins said. "It connected you to the real experience of our fans, the real identity of a lot of our fans."

Collins received his bachelor's degree in humanities, with an emphasis in political science, from Loyola Marymount in 2005. He completed a master's degree in organizational management and sport administration from Chadron State in 2008.

Collins does have some past roots in the area where he was an assistant basketball coach at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho from 2008-10.

He and his wife, Renee, have a nine-year-old daughter, Kennedy, and a seven-year-old son, James.