East Central hires a proven winner to take over its football program
East Central High School has hired a mentor of former coach Seth Smith to take over its football program.
Eric Collins has stepped down after one season as the Bay High head coach to take the same position at the Hurley school.
Collins was Smith’s boss when the two were at Pearl River Central.
“I’m not going to have to go in and do a whole lot,” Collins said. “Seth Smith’s system is my system and my system is his system. I’ll go into a program that’s run like my program. I’ve just got to put my spin on it and continue that success.”
Collins spent one season at Bay High, leading the Tigers to a 5-4 season. The Tigers started the season 5-0 after winning no more than four games in a season the previous six years. The program only had three total wins from 2016-18 before Collins got the job.
“I’ve been happy at Bay High and (administration) has been good to me,” he said. “I am just appreciative all they’ve given me with a chance to win here and accomplish some things. At the end of the day, it was time to make a move.”
During his three-year stint at D’Iberville before taking the Bay High job, Collins had a record of 18-16. He led the school to a Region 4-6A championship with an 8-4 campaign in 2016 before putting together consecutive five-wins season. The Warriors made the playoffs twice under Collins.
Collins worked six years as the head coach at Pearl River Central prior to taking over at D’Iberville, turning around a program that was 0-11 the year before he arrived. He went 42-31 during his time at PRC.
A former Tupelo head coach, Collins has also had coaching stops at Louisiana schools like Archbishop Hannan, Jesuit and Chalmette.
Logistics also played a role in the move for Collins.
“It’s closer to my house, and being back in 5A and my old stomping grounds,” he said. “That’s exciting for me. It’s 20-something miles from my house. I’m driving 50 miles now. I’m traveling an hour every day so that was a little bit of a factor.”
Smith will be tough to follow at East Central. He was 53-34 in seven seasons as the Hornets’ head coach, leading the program to a Class 4A South State title in 2017. The Hornets went 1-10 his first season, but showed gradual improvement with each season.
Smith stepped down last month to become the head at Pearl River Community College.
Collins said that he hopes to start at East Central some time after the Christmas break.
This story was originally published December 16, 2019 at 2:04 PM.
