Celester "CC" Collier (born c. 1952) is a retired American basketball coach. Collier played basketball at Paris Junior College from 1979–1981, and Southwest Texas State University from 1981 to 1983. He coached at SWT for two years after playing. He was inducted into the Paris Junior College Hall of Fame[1] and the Southwest Texas State Hall of Honor in 2001.[2] Collier spent the last 31 years of a 43-year coaching career as the boys basketball head coach at Bowie High School in Austin, Texas.[3]

Celester "CC" Collier
Playing career
Basketball
1981–1983Southwest Texas State
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Basketball
1984–1986Southwest Texas State
Head coaching record
Overall12–42 (college basketball)

He coached Veronica Mars creator and Dawson's Creek and Drive Me Crazy writer Rob Thomas at San Marcos High School in the late 1980s. Thomas's team has the second best record under Collier (32–4).

Collier won numerous District Coach of the Year awards, and was Bowie High School's Coach of the Year in 1994.

In 2004, Bowie High School was selected as the filming location for the feature film The Quiet.[4] The Bowie High School basketball team was chosen to act in the film and Collier was the head coach for Shawn Ashmore's team in the movie.[citation needed]

In 2006, Collier guided Bowie to a 33–3 record and was named Central Texas Coach of the Year by the Austin American-Statesman.[5]

In 2019, Collier led Bowie to its first regional tournament in 25 years.[6]

Head coaching record

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Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Southwest Texas State Bobcats (Gulf Star Conference) (1984–1986)
1984–85 Southwest Texas State 6–20 2-4 3rd
1985–86 Southwest Texas State 6–22 1-5 4th
Total: 12–42 (.222)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References

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  1. ^ "Dragons Hall of Fame". parisjc.edu. August 19, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  2. ^ "Texas State Hall of Honor". txst.com. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  3. ^ Jones, Thomas (April 25, 2022). "Bowie High basketball's Celester Collier ends groundbreaking 43-year coaching career". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
  4. ^ Baldwin, Aaron (February 16, 2007). "Shh". The Monitor. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
  5. ^ "Boys, girls All-Central Texas basketball teams". Austin American-Statesman. March 31, 2006. Archived from the original on May 26, 2006.
  6. ^ Golden, Cedric (February 28, 2019). "Golden: Bowie boys hope to extend playoff run under longtime coach Collier". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved March 7, 2020.