Milestone Made by Many: Collier Reaches 700 wins at ICC

FULTON – The moment didn't come with fireworks. There was no confetti or fanfare. For Coach Rick Collier it was just another win on another spring day, and another step in a career built on consistency, character and dominance.

With the Indians' 16-7 Game 1 win over Hinds, Collier reached his 700th win as head baseball coach at Itawamba Community College. It's a number that places him in elite company across the state and adds another chapter to a career that has become the gold standard for the ICC baseball program.

Collier wasn't one to focus on the milestone.

"It's never been about me," he said. "I've never hit a baseball since I've been coaching here at ICC. I've never caught one. I've never pitched one. I just let all these guys get after it and this moment is about all those guys that earned those 700 wins."

Collier took over the Indians in 2002, and it didn't take long for the program to take shape under his leadership. His first win came on February 13, 2003, his very first game as head coach, a 2-1 win on the road at Southwest Mississippi. Since then, Collier has stacked wins with an unmatched passion for the game.

In 2016, he passed Hall of Fame coach Roy Cresap to become ICC's all-time winningest coach with his 452nd victory, a 10-3 win over Meridian. He reached his 500th win in 2018 with a 5-1 win over Snead State. Then in 2021, he earned win number 600 in a back-and-forth battle with nationally ranked Pearl River, a 10-8 triumph over the No. 2 team in the country.

The accolades have followed him at every turn. Three conference championships. Two NJCAA Region 23 titles. An NJCAA Super Regional championship. An appearance in the 2003 NJCAA World Series where the Indians finished fifth in the nation. A school-record 46 wins and a 22-game win streak that same season. Eighteen playoff appearances. Eleven of those came in consecutive seasons from 2003 to 2013.

The 2009 season stands out as one of his most dominant runs. ICC captured the MACJC title by scoring 47 runs on 52 hits over the course of just three games. That same year, Collier was named Conference Coach of the Year. It wasn't the first time. He also earned that honor in 2003 and 2019, along with Region 23 Coach of the Year and DII Central District Coach of the Year recognition.

But his greatest impact might not be in the wins, titles or trophies. It's in the players who have gone on to play at the next level. Every single year of his tenure, Collier has helped at least one player sign with a SEC or another NCAA Division I program. More than 20 have been selected in the MLB Draft, including former ICC standouts Tim Dillard, Jeremy King, Greg McKissick, Jared Wesson, Andy Rice, Desmond Jennings, Charley Williams, Chris Hilliard, Delvin Zinn, Tyreque Reed, JT Salter, Steffon Moore, Jackson Lancaster, Kyle Crigger and Will Verdung along with John Gatlin, Blake Bennett and Houston Harding signing as an undrafted free agent.

A former All-American himself at both ICC and Delta State, Collier was inducted into the Delta State Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. And yet, through all of his success, he has never made the story about him.

"It's tough to get a bunch of guys with different backgrounds from different places to play together as a team," said Dillard in a 2020 interview about his career at ICC. "Rick was able to do that. I think the reason was everybody felt like we were in it together, it was all about us and we felt like we were a family."

He still shows up early. He still watches the way his players carry themselves when no one is watching. And he still expects his team to play hard, play smart and represent the program the right way.

Seven hundred wins is a milestone. But for Collier, it's never been about the destination. It's been about building something that lasts.

And at ICC, he's done exactly that.