Character at top of recruiting checklist for Albright football coach Isaac Collins
Isaac Collins enjoys the football recruiting game, especially now that he’s back at the Division III level, as Albright’s head coach.
It’s more of an even playing field, he says, as opposed to the higher classifications where some colleges and universities have distinct advantages when it comes to scholarships, facilities and other incentives.
In the Middle Atlantic Conference, where the Lions play, the most valuable thing a coach can offer is honesty, and the 50-year-old Collins is all about that.
He’s not about to sugarcoat the message just to get a player to commit to his program. If he projects them, at best, to be a special teams player or someone who may not get on the field until their senior season he tells them as much.
“That really helps set the table,” he said. “Will we lose some guys? For sure. We’re always going to tell a kid: ‘Here’s what we’re going to do to meet the needs of helping you develop as a man, as a football player and as a student. And if that’s not for you, I don’t lose any sleep over it; there’s more than enough kids out there.”
Collins, nearly three months into his stint at Albright, is eager to get back on the recruiting trail this month, a critical one at the Division III level. He would like to bring in 45 freshman from the Class of 2022; he says he and his staff are more than halfway there.
Despite the late start — Collins wasn’t hired until Feb. 11 — they’ve had success getting their message out. Lots more needs to done in a short time, he knows.
The Lions are coming off a 2-8 season and have won just four games over their last three full fall seasons. Collins completed spring practice last week with his 78-man roster. His takeaway?
“We have a lot of work to do,” he said, “a lot of work. We have a lot of young guys that have some talent, but their work ethic and consistency, I just don’t know.”
Collins says he has raised the bar when it comes to commitment within the program. He has high standards. His methods have worked successfully at this level, and others, before. At Widener he inherited a team that went 3-7; within three years it won 25 games and a MAC title.
He took over a winless team at Seton Hill and within three years had the Griffins in the NCAA Division II quarterfinals. A year later they led the nation in passing.
Collins has been all over the football map, coaching at Hobart, Columbia, Lehigh, Holy Cross, Delaware, The Citadel and, most recently, at Bucknell, where he was the defensive coordinator last season.
His job now is to resurrect an Albright program that enjoyed a lot of success under John Marzka until hitting the skids a few years ago, starting with a winless 2018 season. That rebuild will start with bringing in players — but Collins wants to bring in the right ones.
A 75-man recruiting class doesn’t do your program much good, he said, if half of those student-athletes leave after a semester or two because they don’t fit in or can’t adapt to college life.
“You win football games (by) getting the right players and putting them in the right positions for them to be successful,” Collins said. “That’s what our focus has been this spring. We’re trying to get the pieces put together.
“That starts on the front end: If you don’t do a good job of finding folks that are a good fit academically, socially and financially, then you find yourself losing (people). Our focus here is to make sure that we’re right more times than we’re wrong in finding the right fits.”
He stresses to his assistants they must have a projected role in mind for the players they recruit — starter, backup, special teams — before bringing them in. He doesn’t want to mislead players and promise starting positions.
“We want to make sure he can play somewhere or, at the minimum, be a scout team player for a few years and he may develop and help us on special teams his senior year,” Collins said. “Sometimes that hurts you in recruiting, because guys don’t want to hear that. (If a player can’t fill a role) you’re just filling up your room with a bunch of guys that are disgruntled.
“That’s why the (NCAA transfer) portal is filled with so many kids right now, because they go off of what they’re being told instead of what they need (to hear),” he said.
Collins would love to bring in big, fast players, but that’s not the No. 1 thing on his evaluation checklist.
“The character piece is super critical,” he said.
If he looks at a high school transcript and sees a student who rarely misses school, who take strong courses and get good grades, he’s interested.
| 2021 MAC standings | ||
| Delaware Valley | 8-0 | 11-1 |
| Lycoming | 6-2 | 8-3 |
| Widener | 5-3 | 7-4 |
| Stevenson | 5-3 | 5-6 |
| FDU-Florham | 5-3 | 7-4 |
| Wilkes | 5-3 | 6-4 |
| Lebanon Valley | 4-4 | 5-5 |
| King’s | 3-5 | 5-5 |
| Misericordia | 2-6 | 3-6 |
| Albright | 1-7 | 2-8 |
| Alvernia | 0-8 | 0-10 |
“That’s someone who shows up to work every day, and that’s what we want,” he said. “The mission and goal is, by the time you graduate, we want to make sure you’re the best version of yourself. And if you’re not someone that’s willing to work (you’re not going to get there).
“There’s a correlation between grades potential and the ability to get better in the weight room, better on the practice field.”
Collins likes athletes who play multiple sports, or were selected team captain. Those things matter, he said.
“(Guys who) play multiple sports, they’re put in different settings, they’re put into different pressure situations,” Collins said. “More importantly they have to manage their time better than most people to be a football/wrestling or football/track (guy).”
Collins is bothered by the fact that there are just two players from Berks high schools currently on the Albright roster and just three from the Lancaster-Lebanon League — fertile recruiting ground right in the back yard. He wants to address that.
“The ‘glit’ and glow of Albright has been lost over the years,” he said. “We’ve got to find a way to recapture that.”
He’s not just saying what people might want to hear; he’s serious about it. That’s why he’s going to recruit Berks personally.
“We want to get as many Berks County kids as we can,” he said. “We want to be able to create a home base. There’s an avenue here for us to be able to do that.”
No matter where or who he recruits, developing trust is the key, Collins said.
“The way that I have been able to stay in this profession for as long as I’ve been in it is the simple fact that every aspect of my life has been built around establishing trust first,” he said. “If people don’t trust you, you can never be successful at building anything.
| Albright | MAC | Overall |
| 2021 | 1-7 | 2-8 |
| 2020* | ||
| 2019 | 2-6 | 2-8 |
| 2018 | 0-8 | 0-10 |
| 2017 | 7-2 | 8-3 |
| 2016 | 7-2 | 8-3 |
| 2015 | 8-1+ | 10-2 |
| 2014 | 5-4 | 6-5 |
| 2013 | 6-3 | 8-3 |
| 2012 | 6-3 | 8-3 |
| 2011 | 4-4 | 6-5 |
“(I tell high school coaches:) If you send us a guy, we’re gonna take care of him, we’re gonna develop him, we’re gonna challenge him. We have to make better men first before we can think about making better football players.”
Isaac Collins enjoys the football recruiting game, especially now that he’s back at the Division III level, as Albright’s head coach.
It’s more of an even playing field, he says, as opposed to the higher classifications where some colleges and universities have distinct advantages when it comes to scholarships, facilities and other incentives.
In the Middle Atlantic Conference, where the Lions play, the most valuable thing a coach can offer is honesty, and the 50-year-old Collins is all about that.
He’s not about to sugarcoat the message just to get a player to commit to his program. If he projects them, at best, to be a special teams player or someone who may not get on the field until their senior season he tells them as much.
“That really helps set the table,” he said. “Will we lose some guys? For sure. We’re always going to tell a kid: Here’s what we’re going to do to meet the needs of helping you develop as a man, as a football player and as a student. And if that’s not for you, I don’t lose any sleep over it; there’s more than enough kids out there.”
Collins, nearly three months into his stint at Albright, is eager to get back on the recruiting trail this month, a critical one at the Division III level. He would like to bring in 45 freshman from the Class of 2022; he says he and his staff are more than halfway there.
Despite the late start — Collins wasn’t hired until Feb. 11 — they’ve had success getting their message out. Lots more needs to done in a short time, he knows.
The Lions are coming off a 2-8 season and have won just four games over their last three full fall seasons. Collins completed spring practice last week with his 78-man roster. His takeaway?
“We have a lot of work to do,” he said, “a lot of work. We have a lot of young guys that have some talent, but their work ethic and consistency, I just don’t know.”
Collins says he has raised the bar when it comes to commitment within the program. He has high standards. His methods have worked successfully at this level, and others, before. At Widener he inherited a team that went 3-7; within three years it won 25 games and a MAC title.
He took over a winless team at Seton Hill and within three years had the Griffins in the NCAA Division II quarterfinals. A year later they led the nation in passing.
Collins has been all over the football map, coaching at Hobart, Columbia, Lehigh, Holy Cross, Delaware, The Citadel and, most recently, at Bucknell, where he was the defensive coordinator last season.
His job now is to resurrect an Albright program that enjoyed a lot of success under John Marzka until hitting the skids a few years ago, starting with a winless 2018 season. That rebuild will start with bringing in players — but Collins wants to bring in the right ones.
A 75-man recruiting class doesn’t do your program much good, he said, if half of those student-athletes leave after a semester or two because they don’t fit in or can’t adapt to college life.
“You win football games (by) getting the right players and putting them in the right positions for them to be successful,” Collins said. “That’s what our focus has been this spring. We’re trying to get the pieces put together.
“That starts on the front end: If you don’t do a good job of finding folks that are a good fit academically, socially and financially, then you find yourself losing (people). Our focus here is to make sure that we’re right more times than we’re wrong in finding the right fits.”
He stresses to his assistants they must have a projected role in mind for the players they recruit — starter, backup, special teams — before bringing them in. He doesn’t want to mislead players and promise starting positions.
“We want to make sure he can play somewhere or, at the minimum, be a scout team player for a few years and he may develop and help us on special teams his senior year,” Collins said. “Sometimes that hurts you in recruiting, because guys don’t want to hear that. (If a player can’t fill a role) you’re just filling up your room with a bunch of guys that are disgruntled.
“That’s why the (NCAA transfer) portal is filled with so many kids right now, because they go off of what they’re being told instead of what they need (to hear),” he said.
Collins would love to bring in big, fast players, but that’s not the No. 1 thing on his evaluation checklist.
“c,” he said.
If he looks at a high school transcript and sees a student who rarely misses school, who take strong courses and get good grades, he’s interested.
“That’s someone who shows up to work every day, and that’s what we want,” he said. “The mission and goal is, by the time you graduate, we want to make sure you’re the best version of yourself. And if you’re not someone that’s willing to work (you’re not going to get there).
“There’s a correlation between grades potential and the ability to get better in the weight room, better on the practice field.”
Collins likes athletes who play multiple sports, or were selected team captain. Those things matter, he said.
“(Guys who) play multiple sports, they’re put in different settings, they’re put into different pressure situations,” Collins said. “More importantly they have to manage their time better than most people to be a football/wrestling or football/track (guy).”
Collins is bothered by the fact that there are just two players from Berks high schools currently on the Albright roster and just three from the Lancaster-Lebanon League — fertile recruiting ground right in the back yard. He wants to address that.
“The ‘glit’ and glow of Albright has been lost over the years,” he said. “We’ve got to find a way to recapture that.”
He’s not just saying what people might want to hear; he’s serious about it. That’s why he’s going to recruit Berks personally.
“We want to get as many Berks County kids as we can,” he said. “We want to be able to create a home base. There’s an avenue here for us to be able to do that.”
No matter where or who he recruits, developing trust is the key, Collins said.
“The way that I have been able to stay in this profession for as long as I’ve been in it is the simple fact that every aspect of my life has been built around establishing trust first,” he said. “If people don’t trust you, you can never be successful at building anything.
“(I tell high school coaches:) If you send us a guy, we’re gonna take care of him, we’re gonna develop him, we’re gonna challenge him. We have to make better men first before we can think about making better football players.”