Vastly experienced as a coach, holding the UEFA Pro licence, UEFA A licence and one of 16 selected coaches to graduate on the Level 5 elite coaches’ award, Collins will join Wolves after two years as head of coaching at Crewe Alexandra.
He had previously spent two seasons as a first-team coach at Crewe, working under the current Wolves under-18 head coach Steve Davis.
The appointment comes after a thorough recruitment process following Rob Edwards’ departure in October, and head of Academy Scott Sellars said it was vitally important that the club took its time to find the right candidate to replace him.
“After a long interview process, where we interviewed many good candidates at various stages of their coaching careers, we felt James was the best fit for the role and someone who would help move the development of our young players at Wolves forward,” Sellars said
“He has vast experience in developing players after working across both the development side and at first-team level throughout his career at Crewe – a club which has a great legacy of turning emerging young players into first-class professionals.
“Not only does James possess high levels of experience in supporting players to blossom as quickly as possible, we also felt he had the right credentials as a person; mirroring the values which are important to us as a football club.”
After moving into the role as caretaker under-23 head coach following the departure of Edwards, Mark Kennedy has now left the club to pursue new opportunities.
Sellars, who will now lead the team until Collins takes up his new position in the new year, thanked Kennedy for his commitment to the club during the past two months.
“We are extremely grateful for the work Mark has carried out during his time as caretaker coach,” Sellars added. “He first came to the club on a short-term contract in the summer to work with our loans group, and when Rob decided to leave we felt he would be the right person to lead the under-23s whilst we conducted the recruitment process.
“Mark has shown great commitment to the role and has been very supportive of everyone at the club. He has been a great credit to himself throughout his time with us and it’s been a pleasure to have him here at Wolves. We wish him the very best in all his future endeavours.”
