Blackburn Names Kollar Head Men's Basketball Coach

Blackburn Names Kollar Head Men's Basketball Coach

Blackburn College has named former Benedictine University Assistant Coach Steve Kollar to be the next Head Men's Basketball Coach.  

This will be Kollar's first head coaching position at the collegiate level. Prior to being named Head Coach at Blackburn College, Kollar served as the Head Assistant at both University of St. Francis and most recently Benedictine University where he helped lead the Eagles to a NACC Conference Championship in the 2014-15 season.

Prior to completing his fifth season as Head Assistant Coach and second at Benedictine University, Kollar helped the Eagles to an overall record of 18-9 and a NACC conference championship with a conference record of 15-5. In his first season at Benedictine, he helped the Eagles to a 14-12 record in the 2013-14 campaign, which was a six-win improvement from the prior season. Kollar was in charge of running strength and conditioning, player development, and also served as the academic liaison for the men’s basketball program. In this role, the team posted a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher each of the two seasons. In his two years as Head Assistant at Benedictine University, Kollar coached several all-conference players as well as a 2nd team All-Region and Conference Player of The Year.

Kollar has been the recruiting coordinator for each of the five seasons as a collegiate assistant and was heavily involved in designing game plans, travel arrangements, film exchange, scouting reports, film breakdown, scheduling, and practice planning. On top of his duties as an assistant coach at Benedictine University, Kollar also coached teams for Mercury Elite AAU and gave individual lessons.

Prior to his stop at Benedictine, he was the Head Assistant at the University of St. Francis under John Baines, whom Kollar also played for at Elmhurst College. While at St. Francis, Kollar served as the staff's recruiting coordinator and head of the strength and conditioning workouts. In addition, he was in charge of film exchange, travel arrangements, scouting reports, film breakdown, player development, and game day run-thru practices. During that tenure, he helped lead St. Francis to two 20-win seasons and 57 wins overall in three years. While at St. Francis, Kollar had the opportunity to coach two All-Americans, one Academic All-American, and seven All-Conference players. St. Francis also held a team GPA over 3.0 for all three seasons that Kollar spent on the staff.

Kollar also has coaching experience at the high school level. He was the head sophomore and varsity assistant basketball coach at South Elgin High School and coached the freshmen basketball teams at West Aurora High School and Wheaton North High School. At South Elgin, he coached five All-Conference and two All-State student-athletes and helped lead the program to one of the best seasons in school history.

Kollar played college basketball for one semester at Greenville College before transferring to Elmhurst College, where he played for Mark Scherer and John Baines. Kollar earned his Bachelor's Degree in Secondary Education (Physical Education and Health) in 2005 from Elmhurst College.

STORY COURTESY OF BLACKBURN COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION OFFICE