Nicki Collen

Nicki Collen is the fifth Head Coach in Baylor University women’s basketball history. Collen comes to Baylor from the Women's National Basketball Association’s (WNBA) Atlanta franchise, where she spent three seasons at the helm for the Dream. Her rookie season in Atlanta in 2018 resulted in a 23-11 season and a berth in the WNBA Playoff Semifinals, earning Collen WNBA Coach of the Year honors.

Prior to Atlanta, Collen spent two seasons under head coach Curt Miller of the Connecticut Sun, helping the franchise improve from fifth in the East Division to second from 2016 to 2017, respectively. Her collegiate coaching career spanned nine seasons prior to her WNBA arrival as an assistant coach at Colorado State, Ball State, Louisville, Arkansas and Florida Gulf Coast universities. During this time, Collen coached three All-Americans and saw three players selected in the WNBA Draft.

Collen’s own collegiate playing career began at Purdue in 1993-94, when the Boilermakers made an NCAA Final Four run with a 29-5 overall record and a 16-2 mark in the Big Ten. Her sophomore season, Purdue made another deep run with an Elite Eight appearance to go with a 24-8 overall record. She transferred to Marquette, where she tallied 421 assists in her final two seasons, averaging 7.0 per game in her last 60 collegiate games. She helped the Golden Eagles to two-straight NCAA Tournament appearances in 1997 and 1998.