Peggy Collins established the modern era of women’s basketball at Mercer and used her coaching prowess to lay the groundwork for a highly successful and celebrated program. Here’s why she is a Mercer Legend.
Mercer connection: First Mercer women’s basketball coach
Years at Mercer: 1970-1977
What she did: Peggy Collins was born and raised in Rome, Georgia, and played basketball at East Rome High School and Berry College, from which she earned her undergraduate degree in 1969. She completed her master’s degree at University of Tennessee in 1970 and, that fall, came to Mercer University to teach health and physical education. In addition, she served as a freshman advisor and director of women’s intramural sports.
During her first year on the faculty, a group of female students asked Collins to start a women’s basketball program. Known as the Teddy Bears, the team had just four weeks to practice before its first game in January 1971. Each day, the players practiced for at least two hours and ran an average 8 miles, and they played weekly scrimmages against male intramural teams.
The Teddy Bears won their first game against Wesleyan College and saw a 3-5 record during the 1970-71 season, Collins’ only losing season as Mercer coach. The next year, the team claimed 21 wins, a single loss and a conference title.
In 1977, Collins left Mercer to coach at Mississippi State, where she stayed until 1984. She went back to school to study computer programming and later worked for the Bartow County Sheriff’s Department, where she was a lieutenant. She was inducted into the Mercer Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007.
Why she’s a legend: Collins built a women’s basketball team from student walk-ons and a $300 budget and developed it into a winning program.
“Peggy Collins did not come to Mercer to coach basketball, but she was the right woman in the right place at the right time,” wrote Candace J. Head, a 1973 graduate and former member of the women’s basketball team, in an editorial for the fall 2021 issue of The Mercerian.
Collins placed a strong emphasis on conditioning for her players and adapted her team strategy to meet the players’ individual strengths. In addition, she showed an interest in her team not just as players but as individuals.
Under Collins’ leadership, the team claimed victories at the Southern Women’s Athletic Conference championship in 1972 and the Georgia Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women state championships in 1974 and 1975. The Teddy Bears also won the Region III Tournament championship in 1973, which took them to the national tournament in Flushing, New York, and resulted in an official commendation from the Georgia State Senate.
The program’s 100th win came on Jan. 13, 1976, against the University of Georgia. Collins led the women’s basketball team to a 133-33 record in her seven seasons as head coach. In total, 190 wins and a .742 winning percentage were recorded in the program’s first decade, the highest of any decade for Mercer women’s basketball, and seven tournament titles were claimed.
Quotable: “Peggy Collins was the founding coach of modern-era women’s basketball at Mercer. In a broader sense, she was a trailblazing giant in the inaugural years of collegiate women’s basketball. Every coach and player at Mercer in the past half century is standing on her shoulders. Coach Peggy Collins changed my life and helped to lay the groundwork that would change the lives of female athletes at Mercer and beyond for generations to come.” — Candace J. Head, 1973 graduate and former member of women’s basketball team
Mercer Legends is a series that highlights iconic figures who left a lasting impact on the University and its faculty, staff and students, as well as the community.
