Deitre Collins-Parker, a two-time national collegiate player of the year and AVCA Hall of Fame member, was named the head volleyball coach at San Diego State on Jan. 30, 2009. She became just the fourth head coach since the Aztecs began intercollegiate play in 1976, replacing Mark Warner, who retired at the end of the 2008 season after 13 years at the helm of the women’s program.
Collins-Parker guided SDSU to a 171-162 record during her 11 seasons on The Mesa, highlighted by a Mountain West co-championship in 2012, when the Aztecs finished with a 23-8 overall mark and a 13-3 ledger in conference matches. For her efforts, she garnered MW Coach of the Year accolades, as SDSU received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
In 2019, Collins-Parker's Aztecs rebounded with a 15-14 overall record, marking the program's sixth winning season in the last nine years. In addition, the Scarlet and Black finished fifth in the conference race with an 8-10 mark after the league coaches slotted SDSU eighth in the MW preseason poll. Individually, Hannah Turnlund, Tamia Reeves and Camryn Machado received all-conference recognition, giving the Aztecs multiple all-MW selections for the fifth time in Collins-Parker's tenure.
Following an injury-plagued start to the 2018 campaign, Collins-Parker’s squad regrouped, posting a 9-7 record over the final 16 matches of the season, highlighted by its first victory over crosstown foe San Diego since 2012 and its first road win at Boise State since 2013. Individually, Deja Harris garnered all-conference accolades for the fourth year in a row and completed her illustrious Aztec career ranked eighth on the school’s all-time charts with a .322 hitting percentage.
In 2017, Collins-Parker directed SDSU to its second consecutive winning season and a fourth-place Mountain West finish. A quartet of Aztecs were named all-MW (Deja Harris, Devyn Pritchard, Baylee Little, Alexis Cage) -- tied for the program’s largest number of honorees since the team joined the league in 2000.
During the summer of 2014, she led a Mountain West all-star team on a tour of Europe that concluded with a bronze medal third-place finish at the European Global Challenge in Pula, Croatia.
In 2012, Collins-Parker directed her Aztec squad to a 23-8 record and a 13-3 mark in the league as the Aztecs claimed their first-ever Mountain West title. In addition, the campaign marked SDSU’s best conference record and league finish since the 1996 season and top overall record since 1995. INot to be outdone, she coached a pair of All-America honorees (Andrea Hannasch and Johnna Fouch) along with three all-conference selections (Raegan Shelton) and the conference Newcomer of the Year Michelle Waber.
Collins-Parker arrived at San Diego State after five seasons as the head coach at Cornell, where she led the Big Red to three Ivy League titles and two NCAA tournament appearances. Under her tutelage, the Big Red had seven players named first-team All-Ivy, including two-time Ivy League Player of the Year and honorable mention All-American, Elizabeth Bishop (2007).
Prior to taking over at Cornell in 2004, Collins-Parker spent the previous eight seasons as head coach at UNLV, earning Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 1998 after taking a dormant volleyball program and leading the Lady Rebels to a 23-8 record and a WAC tournament semifi nal appearance. Before her stint at UNLV, Collins-Parker served as an assistant coach at South Alabama, Northern Arizona and Houston for one year each. She also has plenty of international coaching experience as well. She served as head coach of the 1998 U.S. junior national team, directing her squad to a gold medal in the national qualifier. She served in the same capacity during the summer of 2000 (silver medal) and 2001 (bronze medal).
A former member of the U.S. national team and a three-time AVCA All-American at the University of Hawai’i, Collins-Parker was the starting middle blocker for the 1988 Olympic Team in Seoul, South Korea, and was an alternate for the 1992 team in Barcelona, Spain. She played in over 130 international matches and earned bronze medals at the 1986 Goodwill Games and the 1987 Pan-Am Games.
As a collegian, Collins-Parker was a two-time Broderick Award honoree as the national player of the year (1983, 1984) after leading the Rainbow Wahine to consecutive national titles and a 110-5 record in her final three seasons. Collins capped off her career by becoming the first volleyball player to be awarded the Broderick Cup recipient, given to the nation’s best collegiate athlete in all sports. She was twice named to the NCAA all-tournament team and still holds the record for solo blocks in one NCAA tournament (15 in 1982). She was one of six players named to the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball 25th Anniversary Team in October 2005. Collins-Parker went on to compete at the national level and played in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games and was also an alternate for the 1992 games in Barcelona, Spain. She played in over 130 international matches and earned bronze medals at the 1986 Goodwill Games and 1987 Pan-Am Games. She played professionally in the Italian League (1988-89) and the French League (1989-91), capturing the French League Championship twice and the European Cup of Champions in 1990.
Collins-Parker received the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award during the 2009 NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C. The award honors former student-athletes who successfully completed collegiate careers in various sports and have excelled in their chosen professions on their 25th anniversary of completing their athletic eligibility. Collins-Parker was inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame in the fall of 2008. She currently serves as a member of the AVCA Board of Directors and the chairperson on the AVCA Minority Coaches Committee. She currently has membership with the AVCA, Coaches Accreditation Program, Kaepa Gold Medal Clinics, Black Coaches Association, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. A 1995 graduate of Hawai’i with a bachelor of arts in broadcast communications, Collins-Parker is a member of the USA Volleyball Coaching Accreditation Program and is a CAP level III accredited coach.
Collins-Parker Head Coaching Year-By-Year
| Year | School | W | L | Pct. |
| 1996 | UNLV | 5 | 22 | .185 |
| 1997 | UNLV | 9 | 18 | .333 |
| 1998 | UNLV | 23 | 8 | .742 |
| 1999 | UNLV | 12 | 14 | .462 |
| 2000 | UNLV | 6 | 21 | .222 |
| 2001 | UNLV | 10 | 16 | .385 |
| 2002 | UNLV | 11 | 20 | .355 |
| 2003 | UNLV | 13 | 17 | .433 |
| 2004 | Cornell | 17 | 9 | .654 |
| 2005 | Cornell | 19 | 6 | .760 |
| 2006 | Cornell | 18 | 9 | .667 |
| 2007 | Cornell | 9 | 16 | .360 |
| 2008 | Cornell | 10 | 15 | .400 |
| 2009 | SDSU | 14 | 15 | .483 |
| 2010 | SDSU | 16 | 16 | .500 |
| 2011 | SDSU | 18 | 10 | .642 |
| 2012 | SDSU | 23 | 8 | .742 |
| 2013 | SDSU | 16 | 14 | .533 |
| 2014 | SDSU | 14 | 15 | .483 |
| 2015 | SDSU | 12 | 19 | .387 |
| 2016 | SDSU | 17 | 15 | .531 |
| 2017 | SDSU | 16 | 15 | .516 |
| 2018 | SDSU | 10 | 21 | .323 |
| 2019 | SDSU | 15 | 14 | .517 |
| Overall | 333 | 353 | .485 | |
| SDSU | 171 | 162 | .529 |