Aki Collins
	Position: Assistant Coach Experience: First Season Alma Mater: Clark Atlanta University, 1997

David "Aki" Collins is in his first season on the Memphis staff in 2012-13. He moved to the Bluff City in the spring of 2012 from his assistant coach position at Marquette University.

Collins arrives in Memphis during exciting times for the Tigers program. Memphis is coming off back-to-back, 25-win campaigns (25-10 in 2010-11; 26-9 in 2011-12) and consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances (2011, 2012). The Tigers also won two-straight Conference USA Tournament titles (2011, 2012) and the 2011-12 C-USA regular-season crown.

And, on top of all that, Memphis announced in February of 2012 that it is moving to the BIG EAST Conference for the 2013-14 season.

Collins joins the Tigers program after an incredibly successful four-year stint on Buzz Williams' staff at Marquette. During Collins' four seasons in Milwaukee, the Golden Eagles compiled an impressive 96-45 overall record (.681 winning percentage) and a 46-26 Big East Conference mark.

The Golden Eagles -- with Collins on the bench -- posted four-straight, 20-win campaigns and earned four-consecutive NCAA Tournament berths (2009-12), including back-to-back Sweet Sixteen showings in 2011 and 2012. The consecutive NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen appearances were the program's first since 1976 and 1977. Marquette reached the NCAA Tournament second round in 2009 and the "Big Dance's" opening round in 2010. The Golden Eagles also advanced to at least the BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinal round the past four years.

Collins' four-year tenure in Milwaukee culminated in a 27-8 overall mark and a 14-4 Big East record in 2011-12. The 27 victories were tied for the second-most in Golden Eagles history (one shy of the school-record 28 wins in 1970-71), while the 14 Big East wins (14-4 record) tied a school record. Marquette recorded its highest-league finish (2nd) since joining the Big East in 2005-06, and the Golden Eagles went undefeated at home in league action for the first time in the program's history.

Marquette, the 2011 Paradise Jam champion, was ranked every week of the 2011-12 campaign, climbing as high as No. 8/7 in the Feb. 27, 2012, national polls. The Golden Eagles finished the year ranked No. 11/10 in the national polls. Marquette, which played before a national television audience 22 times last year, finished 2011-12 ranked among the top-15 national attendance leaders (13th), averaging 15,138 fans per game at the Bradley Center.

In addition to the wins and NCAA Tournament appearances, Marquette thrived with Collins' assistance, and the statistical numbers prove it. The 2011-12 Golden Eagles squad set the school's single-season record for assists (580), while also posting top-five marks for points (2,638; 4th), field goals made (919; 5th), free throws made (599; 5th), fewest turnovers per game (13.1; 5th) and steals (304; 2nd).

Collins' Marquette teams also posted single-season marks for points (2,782; 2010-11), field goals made (973; 2010-11), three-point field goals made (274; 2009-10) and fewest turnovers per game (10.4; 2009-10). In fact, all four of Collins' teams rank in the top-five for fewest turnovers per game in Marquette history.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., native had a major role in player development at Marquette, helping four Golden Eagles earn All-America honors (Jerel McNeal, 2008-09; Lazar Hayward, 2009-10; Jae Crowder, 2011-12; Darius Johnson-Odom, 2011-12). The 2011-12 campaign was the first since the 1977-78 campaign that Marquette had two All-America selections in the same season.

Six players under Collins' tutelage also received All-Big East Conference distinction in Wesley Matthews, Jimmy Butler, McNeal, Hayward, Crowder and Johnson-Odom, and Crowder also was honored as the 2011-12 Big East Player of the Year. In addition, Collins coached five of the top-11 scorers in Marquette history in McNeal (1st), Hayward (2nd), Dominic James (4th), Matthews (9th) and Johnson-Odom (11th).

Four of Collins' pupils were recent NBA Draft picks, and two others have played in the NBA. Hayward (2010) and Butler (2011) were taken in the first rounds of their respective NBA Drafts. In the 2012 NBA Draft, Crowder and Johnson-Odom were second-round picks. Matthews went undrafted, but was a starter for the 2012 Portland Trail Blazers. McNeal also played in the NBA in the 2010-11 campaign.

Prior to Marquette, Collins had coaching stints at Fairfield (2006-08), Marshall (2003-06), Howard (2000-03) and Colorado (1997-2000). He was an assistant in Colorado when the Buffaloes earned National Invitation Tournament (NIT) bids in 1999 and 2000.

In his previous assistant coaching positions, Collins was on the Tigers opponents' bench once in the 2005-06 campaign when the Thundering Herd hosted Memphis on Feb. 11, 2006. The No. 3 nationally-ranked Tigers overcame a spirited Marshall effort to post a 91-81 victory in Huntington, W.Va. The Thundering Herd led by 11 points on two occasions in the first half and held a 44-43 halftime advantage in that contest.

Ironically, Collins just missed facing Memphis two other times. The most recent was the 2009 NCAA Tournament when Marquette could have been the Tigers' West Region Sweet Sixteen foe in Glendale, Ariz. The Golden Eagles, though, fell to Missouri in the second round. The other "almost" meeting came in the 2008-09 season opener when Fairfield came to Memphis. Collins, however, had just moved from Fairfield to Marquette in the summer of 2008.

A 1997 graduate of Clark Atlanta University, Collins began his college education at Morehouse College before transferring to Clark Atlanta. He earned his bachelor's degree in Communications.