MONROE, La. – ULM head football coach Matt Viator announced today the hiring of Mike Collins and Matt Kubik to the Warhawk football coaching staff. Collins will serve as the program's assistant head coach and defensive coordinator while working with the squad's linebackers. Kubik, meanwhile, will serve as offensive coordinator and coach the team's quarterbacks. Both appointments are pending approval by the University of Louisiana System's Board of Supervisors.
“I am really excited about having both Coach Collins and Coach Kubik on board,” said Viator. “I worked with Mike for five years at McNeese State and competed against him the last three as he was at Sam Houston State. He does a great job coaching the defense and making adjustments. I enjoyed working with him as well as the challenge of coaching against him. I have known Matt for several years and have been impressed with what he did at Central Arkansas and Stephen F. Austin. He will do a great job as offensive coordinator and coaching the quarterbacks here at ULM. Matt has a lot of knowledge about the position that he will bring to the table as he is a former college quarterback.”
Collins spent the previous three seasons at Sam Houston State where he was the program's defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. During his tenure in Huntsville, Texas, a total of 19 defensive players earned All-Southland Conference honors.
Linebacker P.J. Hall was the conference's Freshman of the Year in 2014 and was the top defensive player in balloting for the Jerry Rice Award which is presented to the Football Championship Subdivision's Freshman of the Year. Hall earned First Team All-Southland Conference honors in 2015.
Before joining the staff at Sam Houston State, Collins served on Viator's staff at McNeese State from 2008 to 2012. In 2008, he was the team's linebackers coach before being promoted to assistant head coach and defensive backs coach in 2009. He spent his final two seasons at McNeese State (2011-12) as assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach.
Collins began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at ULM during the 1983 and 1984 seasons. He then took over as a defensive assistant coach at Ouachita Parish High School from 1985-90 before re-entering the collegiate ranks as the linebackers coach at McNeese State. He spent seven seasons in Lake Charles during his first stint with the Cowboys (1991-97).
He returned to ULM in 1998 and served as the program's linebackers coach before being elevated to defensive coordinator prior to the start of the 1999 season. Collins held that position until 2002 when he was named interim head coach and guided the team to three wins in the final seven games of the season.
In 2003, Collins served as an intern on Nick Saban's staff at LSU and he joined the staff full-time in the spring of 2004 and was the team's linebackers coach in the fall of 2004. He then moved to Northwestern State and spent two seasons as the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. In 2007, he was the linebackers coach at Kilgore High School.
Collins was a four-year letterwinner at center for ULM from 1979-82 and he earned his bachelor's degree in 1983 and master's degree in 1984.
He is married to the former Teri Brinson and the couple has two children, John Michael and Matt. He is also the son of former ULM football coach and athletics hall of famer, Pat Collins.
Kubik joins the ULM coaching staff after spending the previous two seasons as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Stephen F. Austin. During his tenure a total of nine offensive players earned All-Southland Conference accolades including a pair of specialty awards.
In 2015, the Lumberjacks averaged 427.9 yards of total offense and 28.7 points per contest. They surpassed that average in eight contests during the 2015 campaign. Following the regular season, Byron Williams was named Second Team All-Southland Conference, while Zach Conque was an Honorable Mention All-Southland Conference selection.
In his first season in charge of the Lumberjacks' offense, SFA averaged 32.7 points per game and 460.8 yards of total offense per game, scoring at least 30 points in eight games in 2014. Under Kubik's tutelage, quarterback Zach Conque earned Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year honors after finishing with 3,359 yards of total offense (2,733 passing; 626 rushing) and 29 total touchdowns (15 passing; 13 rushing; 1 receiving). Running back Gus Johnson was named the league's player of the year after rushing for 1,683 yards and 23 touchdowns.
Prior to his stint at Stephen F. Austin, Kubik served as the wide receivers coach at Central Arkansas from 2011-13. His first collegiate coaching position came at Northwestern State as he spent four seasons in Natchitoches, serving as both the wide receivers/recruiting coordinator (2009-10) and running backs coach (2007-08) for the Demons.
He began his coaching career at Catholic High School in Baton Rouge in 2006, working with the wide receivers. Kubik was a two-year starter at quarterback at Louisiana Tech (2004-05) and he finished with 4,020 career passing yards and 28 career touchdown passes. He was named the team's offensive MVP as a senior and he earned his bachelor's degree in finance in 2005. He has also been a member of the Manning Passing Academy, the annual quarterback camp hosted by the Manning family.
Kubik married his wife, Hannah, in the spring of 2014.
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