HAILSTATEBEAT: Collins To Retire After 41 Years As Team Physician

There are a great many ways to measure success, and in sports, longevity is often one of the best indicators. After all, in such a competitive world, you're only allowed to keep doing something as long as you're good at it. Look at Mississippi State's football program, for example, where it is no coincidence that the two coaches with the most impressive lists of accomplishments are also the ones with the longest careers.

Dan Mullen is in his ninth season as head coach at MSU and is only a half dozen wins away from passing Jackie Sherrill as the winningest coach in school history. Sherrill, of course, is the longest-tenured coach the Bulldogs have ever had, coaching a full 13 seasons.

So what does it say that this week's Egg Bowl will close out the 41^st and final season for one man on the MSU sideline? Dr. Robert K. Collins is retiring as the head team physician after a career that began as an assistant under John C. Longest in 1977, over a decade before Sherrill ever stepped foot on Scott Field and over 30 years before Mullen joined Collins on the sidelines in Davis Wade Stadium.

Collins and his wife first came to Starkville as a young couple with no expectations of staying for long, but 40 years later, they have become permanent members of the community, enthusiastic supporters for the growth of both Starkville and MSU. As the university and city have grown, so have the responsibilities Collins has accepted. When Longest retired in 1988 as the head team physician and head of MSU's student health center, Collins stepped up and took on both roles, becoming a medical pillar of support for multiple generations of Bulldogs, students and athletes alike.

Collins retired from the health center a few years ago, though he kept his role with MSU's football team, and now, after a career and lifetime dedicated to the health and wellness of others, Collins is finally turning his attention the other direction and retiring to a life where nights are spent with family at home rather than teams on practice fields and weekends are spent building model ships or skeet shooting instead of working on the road. In fact, it was on one of those road trips early this season that Collins ultimately settled on full retirement as his next step.

"I made the decision after we came back from Auburn," he said. "It was a long bus ride. I'm not one that can come in immediately, put my head on the pillow and go to sleep. I've got to relax a little bit. I was sitting in my easy chair and saw a skeet magazine that I hadn't looked at. I picked it up and started looking through it and said, 'You know, I've really missed a lot of my hobbies.' I turned 70 last month and it just dawned on me. I don't have a whole lot of years left. I have years left, I just don't know how many. If I'm going to do things I want to do, I need to take the time to start doing them and let someone else take over and have the joy and fun of being the team physician."

In such a long career, there is hardly a Bulldog legend in any sport who hasn't spent time with Collins, and watching the doctor at any game, practice or event, he can hardly take a step without someone he grew to know in his 40 years coming up to chat or just say hello. Likewise, just about every big moment in the modern era of MSU football has occurred with Collins on the sideline, whether those watching were aware of it or not.

Perhaps it's because the Egg Bowl is his final game at home on the sidelines – though he will continue to watch his Bulldogs from the stands in the years to come – but as Collins reflected on the highlights that stand out, it was a pair of rivalry games that first came to mind.

"The tip, the pick and the kick," he said, remembering the famous 1999 Egg Bowl when an ill-advised deep pass by Ole Miss was intercepted by MSU with seconds left on the clock, leading to a last-second field goal to win a game that would otherwise have gone to overtime. "That one hangs in there as a memorable game. Why did he throw that pass?"

Of course, just because a moment is memorable doesn't mean it's necessarily good.

"The Immaculate Deflection is on the negative side," he said, recalling the infamous day when MSU kicker Artie Cosby's field goal attempt initially went through the uprights but was then blown backwards by a strong gust of wind and was ruled no good. "I still can't believe that happened. I think about it every time we have a game like we did against Arkansas where there's a lot of wind and a lot of rain."

A great deal has changed in 40 years, in Starkville, in medicine and in MSU sports. And while much has changed for Collins and his wife, at least a few things will be returning to the way they used to be, no more magazines left unread and no more hobbies left unpracticed.

"I've thoroughly enjoyed my run," Collins said.

Mississippi State University Athletics

HAILSTATEBEAT: Collins To Retire After 41 Years As Team Physician

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