BREAKING: Jory Collins Leaves NDSU for Penn State in Stunning Move

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Breaking news out of Fargo. Jory Collins is leaving his helm at NDSU to take the head coaching job at Penn State Nittany Lions.

NDSU Athletic Director Matt Larson announced Collins’ decision hours after the initial reports came out. He thanked Collins for his work and time and wished him well in his future at University Park. But Larson also announced that a national coaching search was underway for the next women’s basketball coach.

This move comes off as stunning in the F-M area after NDSU’s WBIT second-round exit to Columbia this past Sunday. It’s also puzzling because much of the women’s roster comes back, as Abby Graham, Lily Niebuhr and Audrey Martinez-Stewart are the only ones graduating.

Of course, there is always movement due to the portal, but as of now, everyone is slated to return, except for those three.

The Penn State job opened right after the season ended. Penn State took the wheel from coach Carolyn Kieger after seven seasons and an 84-123 record, with a 30-97 Big10 conference record. In those seven years, the Nittany Lions only made the postseason once, including a WBIT semifinal appearance. The program was in a free fall after legendary Coquese Washington and the University split ways in 2019, where she had 209 wins and three NCAA tournament appearances.

Collins has rebuilt NDSU women’s basketball close to the Amy Ruley glory days. Coach Collins was the best division one coach in NDSU history. The Bison, before Collins’ arrival, had never had an over .500 season. Jory has four in a row.

He has compiled a 127-87 record and an even better 74-42 Summit League record since 2019. Including the last four years, a 90-41 record and a 51-15 record in Summit play. He’s rebuilt this program and the standards of making the postseason, if that’s either making the WNIT or the WBIT.

Additionally, the worst part of a coach leaving is who stays and who goes. In the past, we’ve seen many coaches either take their entire team with them and their coaching staff, completely wiping out the success the previous coach had.

A firm example of this issue is with football and how coaching departs can cause huge ripple effects on the roster and transfer portal.

There are many concerns with Bison fans over this move, but who does he take from this year’s roster over to the Big10? Will it be Koenen, Frost, Shiller, Kriswinski, Lenz, and who will be the next coach for the Bison?

There are many options, such as one of his lead assistants, or they can poach from a high-major team, as they did with Jory.

Although fans can be sad, Bison fans should applaud and thank coach Collins for all the work he did for the last seven years and all the memories he brought to the SHAC like the win against SDSU to break their 60+ Summit League winning streak, winning the Summit League title, and going to a postseason tournament the last four years while building back the program to national mid-major heights.

But for now, Bison fans should be optimistic about a national head coaching search and who AD Matt Larson can bring in to lead the Bison against the Jacks, Yotes, Fighting Hawks and get to the big dance for the first time in the D1 era.