Jim Collier

James William Collier was an American football player and coach whose career linked Arkansas college football, the New York Giants' 1962 championship run, and fifteen seasons on Charles McClendon's LSU staff. Born on 18 May 1939 in Van Buren, Arkansas, he grew up as a multi-sport athlete who was named all-state as a high school quarterback, all-district in basketball, and a school record holder in the pole vault before joining the Arkansas Razorbacks.

At Arkansas from 1959 to 1961 he became a first-team All-Southwest Conference receiver in both 1960 and 1961. Across three seasons he caught 28 passes for 514 yards and five touchdowns, tying for the conference lead in receiving scores in 1960. He also played basketball as a freshman and competed in the pole vault for two years. The New York Giants selected him in the seventh round of the 1961 NFL draft, 95th overall. Buffalo also took him late in the 1962 AFL draft, but he stayed in the NFL.

In 1962 Collier played 13 games for a Giants team that finished 12-2 and won the Eastern Division. Behind stars such as Frank Gifford and Del Shofner he saw limited receiving chances, finishing with one catch for 27 yards. His lasting playing moment came in the NFL Championship Game against Green Bay, when Erich Barnes blocked a Max McGee punt and Collier recovered the ball in the end zone for the Giants' only touchdown of the afternoon. New York still lost 16-7. He spent 1963 with the Washington Redskins, playing 14 games without a reception, then left the NFL.

In 1965 Collier joined McClendon's LSU Tigers as wide receivers coach, a post he held through 1979. Under that staff LSU appeared in ten bowl games, won at least eight games nine times, and claimed the 1970 Southeastern Conference title with a 5-0 league mark. He coached All-SEC receivers including Andy Hamilton and Gerald Keigley, and several of his players later reached the NFL draft. Later oral histories remembered him as a relaxed recruiter who once lent players his boat for Sunday fishing.

After coaching he owned two car care franchises in Baton Rouge. He was married to Judy for 65 years and they had two daughters. Collier died at his home on Lake D'Arbonne in Farmerville, Louisiana, on 13 September 2026, aged 87, after complications from chronic heart failure and prostate cancer. LSU Athletics and the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette published tributes recalling both his Razorback receiving career and his long Tigers coaching tenure.