Jimmy Collins is arguably one of the best men's basketball player to ever don the Crimson & White and grace Lou Henson Court. We were able to catch up with Jimmy and ask him a few questions about his time at New Mexico State, as well as his time as a coach.

He played for the NM State Men's Basketball team from 1967-1970 and was the team captain of Coach Lou Henson's 1970 Final Four Team, which continues to be the only Final Four appearance in school history. During that 1970 season, Collins was named a consensus Second-Team All-American after averaging 24.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 31 games for the Aggies. Collins was then drafted 11th overall in the first-round of the 1970 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls, where he played two seasons. He was later inducted into the US Banks/NM State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1975.

Following the 1972 season, Collins returned to NM State as a member of Coach Lou Henson's staff in 1973. After a short stint as head coach at St. Thomas Elementary and a 14-year run as Coach Henson's assistant at Illinois, Collins became the head coach of the UIC Flames for 14 seasons from 1996-2010. In that time, the Flames won the Horizon League regular-season championship in 1998, as well as the Horizon League Tournament championship in 2002 and 2004. Coach Collins and the Flames made three trips to NCAA Tournament in 1998, 2002 and 2004 with an NIT appearance in 2003.
Collins retired from the coaching ranks since 2010 and stills resides in the Chicago area. He has since taken up a mentorship role among the youth in the Chicagoland area, hoping to lead them down a non-violent path.

What led you into coaching after your playing career and did you know what level you wanted to coach or did that come after you started?
What led me to coaching was Coach Henson. After I finished my playing days I went into the criminal justice system and was an adult probation officer for seven years in Cook County (Illinois). I dealt with Class X felons and needless to say it wasn't hard to make a decision when Coach Henson asked me if I wanted to get into coaching.

What would you credit as most critical or influential to your success following NM State?
What you learn as a player. First of all, you learn to deal with people not only on a social level, but you learn that camaraderie is very important... Being a coach, the people I had coaching with me were very good. I had guys that I understood, I had guys that understood me, I had guys that worked hard as a coach… So it was pretty positive.

What does it mean to you to come back to Las Cruces and be around the basketball team in recent years?
I saw how hard those guys work and I saw Chris Jans. I could envision myself, I could see myself back in those days when we were playing for a goal and I could see that in those players that Coach Chris was coaching so it meant a great deal to me, and it made me feel great. Not only that, the people of Las Cruces. Believe me, their attitude and the way they treat you is quite a bit different than the way you're treated in Chicago, so it was a great feeling.

Are you excited to see your teammates from the Final Four team in the upcoming basketball season for the 50th anniversary?
Oh I am! The ones that are still around here I am excited about that because we were really, really close. Similar to the way this team played for Coach Jans this year, we were very close. And, I'm excited to see the ones that are still here and I'm saddened by the ones that left, but it's going to be fun. It's going to bring back great, great memories and I'm looking forward to it.

Was there much of a culture shock when you first got here coming from New York?
Very much! Believe me… going from Syracuse to Las Cruces at the time was like going back in a time capsule when you get down there and you see the land, the terrain change to go from buildings and the hustle and bustle… By the time I got to New Mexico I actually saw a real roadrunner, and I always thought coming out of Syracuse and being a young man that a roadrunner was a fictional character until I got into New Mexico so it was definitely a change… And by the time I got to New Mexico and by the time I was there a couple months I had learned how to ride and I had turned into somewhat the cowboy that I always dreamed I wanted to be…

Was there a specific player who became your mentor as a freshman?
Bob Evans was a guy who came in from Hobbs, N.M. He and I actually played the same position and we battled every day in practice when the freshman played the varsity but after we played he would always come to me and say, "You do this well, you should work on this," … and of course Sam Lacey, who was the chairman of the boards, taught me one valuable thing. If you are a little guy, don't come under the basket with him because he was throwing kicks, elbows and everything else so that certainly helped me to understand what a guard position was really supposed to do.

What did it feel like being on the Final Four stage as a student-athlete?
Well it's a great thing. It's a great feeling of accomplishment because we played a lot of good teams and at that particular time in the southwest where we were at was not getting the notoriety that they were getting in the east coast… we knew we were good but you can't measure how good you really are until you started playing some of the teams that they had been writing about all the time, those were the great teams…
What did the rivalries with UNM and UTEP mean to you and your teammates at the time?
We looked forward to it because they were great basketball teams…We never lost to UTEP, but they were always very competitive games. They had Ples Vann, Mike Swizer, Nate 'Tiny' Archibald and Phil Harris… they had really good basketball teams. And of course New Mexico up in Albuquerque had Stretch Howard and Petee Gibson … The fans in that Pit were really rowdy and loud so we looked forward to that type of challenge and for the most part we met them.

How much of the fight song do you remember and are you still able to recite it?
I remember all of it and yes I am still able to sing it, it goes something like; Aggies oh Aggies, the hills send back the cry we're here to do or die, Aggies oh Aggies, we'll win the game or know the reason why and when we win the game, we'll drink (buy) a keg of booze and we'll drink it to the Aggies til we wobble In our shoes. So I still remember that… I definitely remember the buy a keg of booze part…I will never forget the fight song from the Aggies. One of the reasons, when I was there we used to have to go whitewash that A on the mountain as freshmen… So I remember that trip and I remember that fight song because it was very dear to my heart. You got to remember that, or you should anyway.

Looking back at New Mexico State, what's the first thing that comes to mind for you?
…the first thing now that really pumps me up and makes me feel good was my relationship, how it developed and how it went uphill all the way with Coach Henson because when I first met him the only thing I wanted to do was get back on the bus to New York. And now, I had mentioned to you before I had a coach in high school I would run through a wall for, now I would run through that same wall for Coach Henson."