WKU women’s basketball announced Greg Collins as the new head coach this afternoon following Michelle Clark-Heard’s departure to become head coach at the University of Cincinnati.

Collins has served as an assistant for the Lady Toppers since the 2013-2014 season and as the associate head coach for the past four seasons.

“As our associate head coach, Greg has played an instrumental and vital role in every aspect of our program over the last six seasons,” WKU athletics director Todd Stewart said in a press release. “While serving in a largely behind the scenes capacity, his countless contributions to our success are certainly know and appreciated within our program.”

Collins previous served as an assistant coach at the University of Louisville under coach Tom Collen, and also at the University of Arkansas before joining Clark-Heard’s staff at WKU.

“It is a great honor to be offered this position with a program that has had so much success through its history,” Collins said in the press release. “WKU is a program that ranks in the top 10 all-time in victories, a program that has been to multiple Final Fours and has shown that it can have sustained success at the national level.”

The Lady Toppers are coming off of their third Conference USA Tournament Championship in the last four years. Since Collins has been on staff at WKU, the Lady Toppers have won 154 games, the most of all C-USA teams over that period.

“We have had a great run since I’ve been here at WKU,” Collins said in the press release. “Having the chance to work alongside Michelle [Clark-Heard] with this program has been an incredible opportunity and I am so grateful to have been able to work with here over the last six years.”

In addition to Clark-Heard’s departure, assistant coach Melissa Kolbe is no longer listed on the staff page of the WKU sports website.

In his first season, Collins is expected to have 11 returning players, with the only departures being seniors Tashia and Ivy Brown.

Reporter Matt Stahl can be reached at 270-745-6291 and [email protected] Follow him on Twitter at @mattstahl97.