The Son Also Rises
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From day one, it would have been easy for Doug Collins to coach his son. Chris was born into NBA culture, the year after his father was drafted first overall by the Philadelphia 76ers. But over the years Doug avoided directly instructing Chris, and by design, as he’ll tell you.
The pair has grown together as students of the game, and as peers more than anything. Their fondest memories together have come not on the court but on the family couch — watching, discussing and learning.
“I wanted that to be sacred time,” says Doug. “A lot of the coaching we did together was to turn on the game and talk about what was happening, why it was happening, what was going on. I never wanted to be his coach — I wanted to be his dad.”
As a result, Chris grew into his own largely independent of his father as both a player and coach. Though he’s made his own name and reputation, he remains similar to Doug in substance.
“They’re extremely competitive, they’re very, very smart, and they have great memories,” says Northwestern assistant Brian James, who coached Chris in high school and later coached with Doug in the NBA. “Not many things go by them. They’re very astute in terms of what they see and the feel [they have] for the game.”
Doug recalls a difficult but natural transition as Chris entered coaching. “I really admire the fact that when he stopped bouncing the ball, he said, ‘Dad, I’ve got nothing left,’ ” explains Doug. “ ‘It’s time for me to do something else.’ That’s a tough decision to make, to stop chasing the dream of being an NBA player.”
As the elder Collins has stepped away from the profession and returned to television work as an NBA analyst for ESPN, he’s been able to devote time to family, spending his summers in the Chicago area. And on a given day of practice, if you poke your head into Welsh-Ryan Arena, you might see Doug in purple, leaning back in a chair off to the side and watching intently.
“It’s been great to have him as a resource,” says Chris. “He’s got such a great way of knowing when I need him and also knowing that this is my thing. Coming in, watching but being in the background, that’s how he wants it. He wants to be a fan, wants to be supportive. It’s been awesome to have him at a lot of games and be someone I can lean on as I go through the experiences of being a young head coach.” — J.W.
