According to Wittenberg, “A national search for Collins’ successor will commence soon.”
Agler talked with the Springfield News-Sun about the decision to part ways with Collins, who was 20-17 in four seasons, on Thursday afternoon.
“Wittenberg has high expectations, and the standards are high,” Agler said, “and the program wasn’t meeting those standards at the moment and wasn’t moving in that direction. So collectively, we decided that the change would be made, and that’s what we did.
“In regards to Jim, he has a tremendous work ethic. He worked at it. Great person. Great ambassador for the university. Team player. All those things. A high-quality individual. It’s unfortunate that it had to come to this, but that’s where we’re at.”
The interim coach Nemith is in his third season at Wittenberg. He is the defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach. He’s a 1997 graduate of Malone College who has coached at Capital, Urbana, Baldwin-Wallace, Ashland, Otterbein, Ohio Dominican, Robert Morris, Trine and Akron.
The Tigers are 2-5 overall and 1-4 in the North Coast Athletic Conference this season. They need to win their last three games against Oberlin (0-6, 0-4), Wabash (6-1, 4-1) and Kenyon (1-5, 1-3) to avoid the program’s first losing season since 1989.
With a 43-40 loss to Denison last weekend, Wittenberg has lost four games in a row for the first time since 1953, and it’s the first time it has lost four straight North Coast Athletic Conference games.
Wittenberg tied for fifth in the NCAC in Collins’ first season, tied for second in 2023 and placed fourth last season. It is in seventh place entering a road game at Oberlin on Saturday. It has never finished worse than fifth since joining the league in 1989.
Agler said Wittenberg would be thorough but quick in its search for a new coach.
“I won’t name names, but we do have a group of Wittenberg alums that have had success at the college level,” Agler said. “Some may have interest. Some may not. We feel like we have a lot to offer, especially in regards to facilities and tradition. We want to find the right fit.”
Agler spoke to the current players on Thursday about the decision.
“They came here for a reason,” he said. “A lot of the players that are here came here because of the tradition and the standards and the expectation.”
Wittenberg hired Collins in November 2021, four days after Joe Fincham, one of the winningest coaches in college football history, announced his retirement after 25 seasons.
Collins, a graduate of Summit Country Day School in Cincinnati and a 1988 Wittenberg graduate, was Wittenberg’s MVP as a senior in 1987.
Wittenberg was the fourth head coaching job for Collins, who spent time at the University of Dubuque in Iowa (1994-96), Capital University (1997-2007) in Bexley and Saginaw Valley State University (2008-18) in Michigan. He had a career record of 135-133 before he arrived at Wittenberg.
When he was hired, Collins said, “When Brian called to ask me if I was interested in the job here at Wittenberg, I practically jumped through the phone with excitement. To me, this is my dream job — and not just because I’m an alum."
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