Jason Collins enters his first season as an assistant coach for the Redhawks gymnastics team and coaches the Southeast bars team.
Collins was named an assistant coach for the team in July after spending a season as an Assistant Coach at Yale. While a member of the gymnastics staff at Yale, Collins helped the Bulldogs earn their second consecutive Ivy Classic Championship.
Prior to Yale, Collins was the vice president, chief athletic officer and director of men's gymnastics, and women's elite team coach at EVO Athletics in Sarasota, Florida.
Collins began his coaching career at the age of 15 in South Carolina. After high school, he attended the Juilliard School in New York, where he obtained his Bachelor's of voice, and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for his Master's in opera performance.
His first career as a professional opera singer and classical musician proved highly successful as he traveled the globe, singing in front of crowds as large as 80,000 people in the most prestigious halls such as the Kennedy Center, La Scala and Lincoln Center and cities such as Bologna, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and Tel Aviv.
Additionally, Collins has several recordings. Notable, is "The Good Soldier Schweik," which was listed in the New York Post as one of Ruth Bader Ginsberg's "Top 10 Opera Recordings" and nominated for Best New Opera by the Cannes Music Festival. Collins has appeared all over the U.S. in opera companies such as the Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Seattle Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Chicago Opera Theater, Bard Music Festival, Arizona Opera and Ft. Worth Opera.
He came back to gymnastics later in life with a passion for the artistic side of the sport, a passion that was spurred by his formal training at Juilliard and The Curtis Institute. As a coach, Collins has developed numerous National Champions for both USA Gymnastics (USAG) Men's and Women's National programs, Carolina Gymnastics Center, the Sarasota YMCA, South Florida Gymnastics, Evo Gymnastics and World Champions Centre.
He was awarded 2015 USAG Coach of the Year for the state of Florida and served as a coach for the United States Olympic Developmental teams at the state, regional, national and international levels from 2015-2018. Collins has been honored to coach the last four years alongside partner and friend Aimee Boorman, three-time Worlds Coach and Head Olympic Coach in Rio 2016. Both coached Olympic and current world champion Simone Biles at the World Champions Centre in Spring, Texas.
