Following a four-year run, Southwest has parted ways with head football coach Cliff Collins.
During Collins’ tenure, the Bears had a combined record of 8-28.
Despite the unfortunate record, the Bears also had several individual accolades including multiple academic honors and many student athletes moving on to play at four-year schools.
Southwest Athletic Director Ken Jackson said that he is thankful for coach Collins' time at Southwest.
“We are grateful to coach Collins for his dedication to Southwest Mississippi Community College over the past four years,” he said. “Coach Collins has poured his heart and soul into this program and has played a crucial role in the development of our student athletes both on and off the field. We wish Cliff all the best in his future endeavors and thank him for his commitment to Southwest and our football program.”
Southwest President Dr. Steve Bishop echoes this adding that Collins was great at representing the school positively, but the decision came down to results on the field.
“Coach Collins is a Southwest guy,” Dr. Bishop said. “He has become of friend of the college and represented the college extremely well on and off campus. He has run a very good program that has produced many good athletes. We just have not met our goals on the field.”
Jackson adds that finding Collins’ replacement is a process that has already begun. “The search for a new head coach to lead our football program will begin immediately and we are committed to conducting a comprehensive search to find the next head coach of the Southwest Bear Football program.”
