MUSKEGON – A lot has changed for Stu Collins since he last coached a Muskegon Risers soccer game.

The biggest change came at home about 2 ½ years ago, when Collins and his wife Kelli welcomed twins Jack and Lucy into their family.

That means that Collins is super busy these days, adding daddy duty to his already demanding roles as an assistant soccer coach at Davenport University and director of coaching for the Michigan Fire junior soccer program.

But Collins isn’t letting any of that stop him from addressing his unfinished business with the Risers.

He played for and was captain of both the summer Risers and winter indoor Risers for four seasons. In 2019 he served as a player/assistant coach for the summer team until an injury ended his playing career and he was promoted to head coach for the last few games.

Collins was ready to continue in that role in the 2020 season, before it was cancelled by COVID, and in 2021, when the same thing happened.

But now the outdoor Risers are ready to take the field again this summer, and Collins has been selected to resume his role as head coach. The first home game will be May 20 against Milwaukee, but the rest of the schedule has yet to be released.

Collins said he can’t wait to get going again, despite the growing size of his family.

“My wife is very supportive,” Collins said. “The kids kind of get (soccer) now, and are starting to experience it. I’m always striving to get a better balance (between work and family), but I’ve had control over the schedule so it shouldn’t be too bad. My wife knows that I think this is something I have to do to prove a point to me.”

So what point is that?

“I think that a team from this side of the state can win and do it in style, not by sitting in a shell and counter-attacking,” said Collins, who recently named another former Risers player, Dean Muckle, to be the team’s lead assistant coach. “I think that a squad can be assembled with the right guys and make this city proud. I want people to come to our games and enjoy it. I want them to really love the way we play. I want to give that to the city of Muskegon.

“I think we have a lot of excitement. It’s been a while, so it will almost feel new again. That’s great for the fans. But they’ve had plenty to cheer about with the great indoor team success this season, and we want to follow up on that.”

The Risers will be playing their first season as participating members of the National Premier Soccer League. They joined the league in 2019 with the intention of playing a regular NPSL schedule in 2020, but that was postponed.

The team will compete in the Midwest Region of the NPSL, along with four other teams – Carpathia FC, FC Columbus, FC Milwaukee Torrent and Panathinaikos Chicago.

Teams that finish in the top two of their regions will advance to a playoff, and the regional champion will advance to the national playoffs.

Collins believes a playoff spot is a real possibility for the Risers, despite their inactivity as an outdoor team in recent years.

“We have to be top two in our region,” the coach said. “I think at the very minimum, we have to be in our regional playoff. I don’t get too hung up on wins and losses, but we need to be top two for sure, because that puts us in as one of the last 16 in the country, which is where we should be.”

Part of what makes Collins so confident is the roster he’s currently putting together.

“It’s pretty much complete,” said Collins about the roster, which hasn’t been publicly released yet. “We’re waiting on one or two local guys, but we have some time for that. I think we have 14 guys from out of area or state for the most part, and a sprinkling of local guys who I’ve worked with in the past.”

Collins believes fans may see a team that is better than any the Risers have assembled in the past.

“I don’t know if there has been a group of outdoor players as a whole who are as equipped to be as dominant and successful as we have the potential to be,” he said.

Collins may seem extremely confident for the coach of a team that hasn’t played in some time, but he believes his positive mindset is crucial to success.

“If I don’t speak it into existence, then I’m hiding behind fake ambitions,” he said. “I have to keep myself accountable and help prepare us. I need to be ambitious, or else I don’t think the players will be as ambitious as me. I have to set that environment and lead by example. These are the goals that we set when we recruited players. I think we’re well equipped to live up to it.”

Collins said his player recruitment has been aided by the family environment that the Risers have created under team owner Matt Schmitt.

“It’s a huge attraction,” Collins said. “It’s really important that we can continue to develop a culture where you have that family and community feel. The team is rooted in the community, and the city has embraced soccer since the inception, so that’s really cool.”

Schmitt, for his part, is thrilled to have Collins back in the Risers organization and coaching the summer squad again.

“Stu has been a fundamental part of this club’s growth for nearly seven years, and fully understands our comprehensive mission,” Schmitt said. “The Muskegon Risers are committed to assembling the best available people to represent our community, and Stu has earned his place among the top coaches in our region through hard-work.

“He has managed to pair his work ethic with a natural ability to process the game, and possesses extensive leadership experience within championship-level programs.”