Love him or hate him, most people have an opinion on Ball State athletic director Tom Collins, who celebrated his fifth anniversary as the head of the athletics department on Sunday.
During the past five years, Collins has been involved in making the major decisions that affect the athletics department. Over the Winter Break, he hired Pete Lembo to be the head coach for the football team.
Collins didn't identify a favorite moment during his five years, but he did list the 2008 undefeated regular season for the football team, the women's basketball team's victory in the NCAA Tournament and the baseball team's MAC championship during his first semester at Ball State as a few highlights.
"I just wish there were more of them for people to enjoy," Collins said.
When Collins needs to make a tough decision, he said he will sometimes go to the people he's worked with in the past, including Duke athletic director Kevin White and Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith, who both have roots back to Arizona State with Collins.
"When I'm here and I'm trying to make a decision, I'm trying to make a decision that's in the long-term best interest of Ball State," Collins said. "I'm trying to make sure I'm doing what's best for Ball State — not necessarily what's easiest or not necessarily what's the quickest."
And there have been plenty of tough decisions for Collins while at Ball State. Along with the recent firing of Stan Parrish and hiring Lembo, there has been at least one head coaching change in 11 sports under Collins' tenure.
Collins said people will occasionally call him a "processor" and that he's willing to take a little more time rather than rushing to a snap judgment.
"I like to hear different opinions from my staff," Collins said. "I'm open to different ideas."
However, there is a large contingent that disagrees with the decisions Collins has made. Whether it's via Ball State message boards or the comments sections of the newspaper, people frequently express their desire for Collins to be fired.
Perhaps no one is more outspoken with his criticism of Collins than Jason Whitlock, a columnist for foxsports.com and a Ball State alumnus.
Whitlock said President Jo Ann Gora does not give Collins enough freedom to do his job and called the athletics department a "hot mess."
"I think Tom has been put into a tough position," Whitlock said. "I think that he has very little autonomy from the president and her husband [Roy Budd]."
Whitlock's primary complaint about the athletics department, Collins and Gora is what he called a lack of clear communication in 2008 after the Cardinals' football team went 12-0 in the regular season. In December 2008, then-football coach Brady Hoke left to take the head coaching position at San Diego State.
"I think the football program — Stan Parrish, the way Brady Hoke was handled — symbolizes problems that are throughout the athletic department," Whitlock said.
In a column Whitlock wrote Friday, he called Gora and Collins the "dumb and dumber of college athletics."
Whitlock said the university should remove Collins and find a "qualified" athletic director to lead Ball State.
Collins said he doesn't read blogs or other outlets that criticize him.
"I think if you do that, then you're chasing stuff. If somebody's unhappy with me, they can send me an e-mail and I'll respond to it," Collins said, adding that he understands that criticisms are a part of being in athletics.
Whitlock said he has spoken with Collins about his concerns in the past, but there has been little interaction between the two since Hoke left the university.
Collins said he wasn't initially interested in the Ball State position when it first came available after Bubba Cunningham left in the fall of 2005 for the athletic director position at Tulsa. Collins had been a finalist at Middle Tennessee, Illinois State and the University of Montana.
"At the time, I wasn't even really looking," Collins said.
Ball State hired a search firm to find the new athletic director, Collins said, and the firm encouraged Collins to apply. He was hired as athletic director on Dec. 3, 2005, and his first day at Ball State was Jan. 9, 2006.
There are three goals Collins said he has as an athletic director: to give the athletes a good collegiate experience, to make sure they graduate and to have them win at least one MAC title in their four years as a Cardinal.
Collins said his two favorite things about being an athletic director are tracking the maturity of Ball State athletes from freshmen to seniors and getting to track coaches and players as they achieve the goal of winning MAC championships.
"When you see those things happen, it's very satisfying," Collins said.
Dave Heeter, who was the Cardinal Varsity Club president in 2005-06, said Collins brought a different personality as the Ball State athletic director than his predecessor.
"Tom reflects what is happening in athletics today. It's very complex and very compliance and legal driven versus what it used to be," Heeter said. "I think Tom is more of an administrator and technical guy than Bubba ever was."
Collins came to Ball State after working at Arizona State for 20 years, including as a senior associate athletic director from 2000 to 2006. Before that, he had worked at the University of Miami and Washington State.
After years at larger Division I universities, Collins said working at a smaller Division I school presents a different set of challenges.
"If coaches are successful here, the Big Ten schools are going to be looking at them and other schools are going to be looking at them," Collins said. "I think that's part of who we are and we have to understand that. ... People who come here and are successful are going to have other opportunities."
Men's golf coach Mike Fleck said he and Collins have a great professional relationship, adding that Collins is a "golf-minded person."
Collins and Fleck interact on a near-daily basis, the coach said.
"I just do my part to keep him in the loop with what we've got going on," Fleck said.
Collins said he has interactions with many former Ball State coaches as well, including Hoke and baseball coach Greg Beals.
"I want to watch and follow their careers, and I want them to be successful," Collins said.
While coaches may move on and some fans will continue to call for his removal, Collins said he has no plans to leave Ball State.
"There's plenty on our list to do," he said. "Until all those things are done, I've got plenty of things to do right here."
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