Chandler Collins | Missouri State Football
Hometown/Current City: Springfield, Mo. / Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Undergraduate Major: History
Postgraduate Field of Study: Master of Management
What path did you take professionally after college?
Following graduation, I enrolled in graduate school at Missouri State to pursue a career in teaching. I coached football and worked at my high school, Glendale, in Springfield, Mo. before quickly realizing that I did not want to teach. I accepted a Graduate Assistant position at Southeast Missouri State University in the Strategic Communications department, and I have been here ever since!
How did being a college athlete impact your decision to work in athletics?
Being a college athlete helped me in so many ways, I always wanted to try and give back to the industry that gave me incredible life lessons and relationships. Seeing what it can do for me, I wanted to be able to be around sports and impact student-athletes in a small way, every day. The work ethic I learned while being a student-athlete has helped me tremendously on this path and I am forever grateful for the impact it has had on my life and my career.
What do you enjoy most about your current role or profession?
The thing I enjoy the most about my current role is the fact that I am able to have my hands in many different categories. I am the SID for our volleyball, women’s basketball, gymnastics, and baseball here at SEMO and oversee several other programs in conjunction with our current graduate assistant. For myself, who entered this profession with minimal experience, it has been a blessing for me to see how such diverse programs/sports operate as a separate entity within an overarching department. To be able to have SID experience in several sports can only help me in future endeavors.
How did playing college sports shape who you are today?
College sports shaped everything about me today. I absolutely loved my five seasons playing football at Missouri State. Learning how to work hard, value relationships, take coaching, and apply that to your sport are the same rules that apply to the work force. Show up on time, work hard, enjoy the process; and you can be successful in any walk of life.
What’s your favorite memory from college athletics?
My favorite memory from college athletics was being a part of a walk-off winning field goal against Southern Illinois my R-Freshman season (2016). I was our starting long snapper for four seasons at Missouri State, and being able to contribute to winning the game for the squad was a feeling I will never forget.
My cliché favorite memory of college athletics is the locker room. Dudes from all different backgrounds, walks of life, etc., coming together to be people that I can call whenever is unforgettable and was some of the best years of my life.
What advice would you share with current student-athletes?
ENJOY IT! No matter how much you love your job, nobody likes working. It's just the truth, but it is the experiences that you gather during your time in competition that molds you into who you are. Unless you join the military, nothing you do in your preseason training, weight room, practice field, game field and the people you do it with will ever be replicated again. Don’t take it for granted, it goes so fast, and embrace the suck because you will wish you could do it again someday.