Lauren Collier joined the South Alabama Athletic Performance staff as an assistant coach in 2021 and oversees and implements the weight and conditioning programs for with volleyball and softball.
In her first season with the Jaguar volleyball program in fall 2021, South Alabama clinched the program’s first-ever Sun Belt Conference overall regular-season championship with a 15-1 league record, and won the program’s first-ever SBC Tournament championship to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA postseason, the first-ever for the program at the national postseason tournament. USA set a new program record for SBC wins (15), and its 25 overall wins were the most by a Jaguar team since the 1987 squad won 26 matches. The Jags’ 25 wins rank as the third-most in a single season at USA. Jaguar setter Kailey Keeble was named first-team all-Sun Belt Conference, and Hannah Maddux, Maddie Soboleski and Kennedy Wallace were each named second-team all-SBC.
The 2022 spring saw the softball program finish second in the Sun Belt standings and five members of the roster earn all-conference accolades. Olivia Lackie, Mackenzie Brasher and Caroline Nichols were named first team, while Meredith Keel and Jenna Hardy received second-team honors. Lackie and Brasher were both named third-team all-South region by the NFCA.
Kamdyn Kvistad ended her Jaguar career as the program’s home run leader (36), while ranking second in RBI (128), third in multi-RBI games (31) and fifth in both hits (172) and extra-base hits (63). Victoria Ortiz led the club with 26 extra-base hits, including 12 home runs and 12 doubles, while establishing a new single-season slugging percentage (.750) mark for the program.Â
Led by Lackie and Hardy, the Jaguar pitching staff ranked second in the league in opponent’s batting average (.210) and third in ERA (2.59). They also allowed the fewest runs (133) and issued the fewest walks (87) in the Sun Belt.
Collier arrived at South after spending the previous three-plus seasons at East Carolina where she worked with women’s basketball, softball and developed and implemented the training programs for the pole vault teams. During her first two seasons at ECU, she designed and implemented the training programs for the women’s tennis and women’s golf teams, while assisting with the training programs for baseball (2018-20).
Collier also served as a strength and conditioning assistant at Florida from June 2017 to September 2018 working with volleyball, men’s and women’s track & field and men’s and women’s swimming and diving. During her time with the Gators, she also assisted in training of post-graduate Olympic athletes in volleyball, track and swimming. Collier also served as an intern for the UF strength and conditioning program where she assisted with the same three programs.
Prior to moving into the strength and conditioning side of collegiate athletics, Collier served as a graduate assistant for the Gator softball program from august 2015 - June 2017. While with the program, Florida compiled an overall record of 174-24 (.879) and a conference mark of 58-12 (.829) winning the regular-season title all three seasons. The Gators also advanced to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, Okla., two of those years capturing the national title in 2015 with a 60-7 record and defeating Michigan in a best-of-three championship series, and finishing as runner up in the 2017 title game after a 58-win season.
Collier was also played softball at Furman University 2011-14 where she was a pitcher/utility player. She was named the team’s most valuable player and team captain each of her final two seasons. She was a four-time all-Southern Conference performer during her career with the Paladins, earning first-team accolades as a utility player during the 2013 season and second-team honors as a pitcher in 2013, ’14 and ’15. The Maineville, Ohio native also earned Southern Conference all-Freshman honors following the 2011 season.
Collier earned her bachelor of science degree in health and exercise science from Furman University in 2014, while also receiving her master of science degree in applied physiology & kinesiology from the College of Health & Human Performance at the University of Florida in May 2017.
She currently holds certifications through NSCA (CSCS) and as a Corrective Exercise Specialist (CES).
