Nate Collins joined the Auburn track and field program as the Director of Operations in January of 2026 after spending the previous four years in the same capacity at the University of Southern California. His primary duties include coordinating the day-to-day activities of the program, team management, team travel and home meets.

In four seasons at USC, Collins was part of the Trojans program that won the 2025 NCAA indoor and outdoor men’s national championships last season, becoming just the third team ever to win both the NCAA indoor and outdoor titles in the same year and first since 2015. On the women’s side, USC won the Big Ten Outdoor title and nationally finished third indoors and runner up outdoors.

Collins spent the previous five-plus years at Cincinnati as the Director of Olympic Sport Operations, joining the Bearcats’ staff in May of 2016.  He worked directly with the coaching staffs by providing administrative and operations support to coordinate all aspects of team travel and acted as a liaison between coaching staffs and the department of athletics. Additionally, he handled travel authorization and expense reports for recruiting and official visits. He also managed the budget and accounting of multiple sports throughout the department.

Collins began his career enlisting in the United States Navy in 2008. He spent a year and a half assigned to U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba before being transferred to Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay for three years. Throughout his naval service he was awarded three Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
 
A native of Upper Sandusky, Ohio, Collins earned a bachelor's degree in business administration (management) from Kentucky in 2014, and a Master of Science in Physical Education (sport administration) from Eastern Kentucky in 2016. He married his wife Sara in December of 2020, and they have a daughter, Scarlett, and two dogs, Tucker and Chloe.