MONROE, La.—ULM football head coach Charlie Weatherbie announced the hiring of Mark Collins as an assistant coach on Monday. Collins, who joins the Warhawks from the University of Georgia, will coach the ULM safeties. His hire is pending approval by the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors.

"I am extremely pleased to welcome Mark to our staff," Weatherbie said. "He is an outstanding young coach that comes to ULM with a lot of experience. Mark has already established some great recruiting connections in the South and will be a great asset to our program both on the field and on the road recruiting."

A native of Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., Collins joined the Georgia staff as a graduate assistant after serving as the linebackers coach at Georgia Southern University in 2006. At GSU, he coached AFCA first-team All-American John Mohring, was the camp and clinic director, and worked with the special teams for the Eagles.

"I am very excited to be a part of the ULM family and I'm looking forward to starting spring practice," Collins said. "Coach Weatherbie is a terrific football coach and I believe this is a football program on the rise in a conference that is on the rise."

Collins is a 1998 graduate of East Tennessee State where he earned a bachelor's degree in finance. As a four-year starter at defensive end and outside linebacker, Collins won the John Robert Bell Award, which is given to the player who displays intensity, loyalty and the work ethic, and was his team's captain in 1997. Collins was also a National Football Foundation College Hall of Fame Scholar in 1995-96.

Following his college graduation, Collins joined East Tennessee State's coaching staff in a variety of positions (outside linebackers coach, defensive line coach, special teams coordinator and assistant defensive backs coach) from 1999-2002. Collins next coaching stop was the University of Michigan, where he was a part of two Big Ten Championships and back-to-back trips to the Rose Bowl. He worked with the team's linebackers as well as the offensive linemen during his two seasons in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Collins' final coaching stop before arriving in Statesboro was as defensive coordinator of Elon University (Elon, N.C.). During the 2005 season, Collins led the Phoenix defense to a No. 3 ranking in total defense in the Southern Conference.

The Warhawks will begin spring practice on Tuesday and will practice every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday until April 10. The Maroon & Gold Spring Game will be held on Saturday at 12 p.m. at Malone Stadium in conjunction with Super Warhawk Weekend.