Head football coach Ken Collums has signed a 4-year extension to remain with ACU. The announcement of the agreement came just a day after he interviewed to be head coach at the University of Central Arkansas.
Collums just finished his second year as ACU’s head coach, leading the Wildcats to a 6-5 record. Collums was 13-9 over his first two seasons as head coach of the Wildcats.
“Ken and I have been in conversations over the last few days about the future of our program and I made it clear to him he is the coach I want directing our team now and in the future,” said Jared Mosley, director of athletics. “Ken’s vision and direction for the ACU football program is in line with the mission of the university and the athletics department, and I certainly appreciate everything he’s done in that regard.”
Collums arrived at ACU in 2005 as the offensive coordinator and helped put together some of the most explosive offenses in the country. He has coached two quarterbacks that left ACU with over 12,000 passing yards and also served as the offensive coordinator when Bernard Scott won the Harlon Hill award, which is given to the best Div. II football player in the country. Collums took the head coaching job at ACU in 2011 when Chris Thomsen left and has lead ACU to two straight winning seasons.
“I certainly appreciate the trust placed in me by [ACU president] Dr. Phil Schubert and Jared Mosley,” Collums said. “This has been a long haul to get this program to where it is, but we still have work to do and I’m excited to be the guy leading the way. At the end of the day, my family and I love ACU and this is where we want to be now and in the future.”
December 18th, several media outlets linked Collums to the coaching vacancy at Central Arkansas, which is his alma mater and a future Wildcat Southland Conference foe. Collums played football for Central Arkansas in the early 1990s and won a NAIA National Championship as its starting quarterback in 1991.
UCA hired a new coach two days after Collums signed his extension when they named Steve Campbell the head coach. Campbell left Missouri Gulf Coast to take the job with Central Arkansas.
The Wildcats will enter the Southland Conference next season with Collums at the helm after completing their first Div. I season this fall.
