Beloved De La Salle golf coach dies, leaving a legacy of success with Spartans, decades coaching high schoolers

Jim Collins, the De La Salle boys golf coach since 2022, has died, the school announced this week. He was 67.

Collins led the Spartans to four North Coast Section Division I championships but “was more than a coach,” according to a news release that the school posted on Wednesday. 

“Jim was a mentor, a steady presence and had a keen eye toward improving our players’ mental and physical ability,” De La Salle president David J. Holquin said in the release. “Through his quiet leadership, warm smile, and love of the game, coach Collins formed young men as student-athletes and people of character. We hold Coach Collins’ family in our prayers as they, and our golf team, mourn his passing.”

Collins had a long tenure as a high school golf coach, leading various teams across parts of five decades. 

He coached at Bishop O’Dowd and Dublin and was the general manager of the San Ramon Golf Club. He also coached basketball at O’Dowd as a varsity assistant and junior varsity head coach from 1979-1991.

Collins served as the president of the Northern California chapter of the Professional Golfers of America in the early 2000s.

He is the fourth De La Salle coach across various sports who has died in the past five years. Track coach John Harvey passed away unexpectedly in late April, football defensive line coach Steve Jacoby died in 2023 and wrestling coach Mark Halvorson died of a heart attack in 2021.

In the release, Holquin said Collins’ players were told in a team meeting of the coach’s passing and provided support to mourn their loss. 

“We remind our community to reach out to the athletic department, counselors, or other trusted adults if they need a place to talk as they grieve,” Holquin said, adding that Collins’ “legacy will live on in the lives he shaped, the relationships he built and in the team’s two state, three NorCal, four North Coast Section and four East Bay Athletic League championships under his leadership. But more importantly, he is remembered through the people he loved most: his sons, Ryan and Sean, and his beloved grandchildren.”

Last spring, De La Salle won the NCS Division I and NorCal championships before placing third at the CIF state meet.