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Former Vanderbilt Basketball Guard Frankie Collins At The Center Of Public Controversy

Former Vanderbilt Basketball Guard Frankie Collins is at the center of a public controversy in which it's alleged that he swindled a number of Vanderbilt fans out of thousands of dollars.
Dec 13, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA;  Vanderbilt Commodores guard Frankie Collins (1) shoots over Central Arkansas Bears guard Luke Moore (32) during the second half at Memorial Gymnasium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
Dec 13, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores guard Frankie Collins (1) shoots over Central Arkansas Bears guard Luke Moore (32) during the second half at Memorial Gymnasium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

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NASHVILLE—Former Vanderbilt basketball guard Frankie Collins has been caught up in a scandal in which he’s accused of scamming a number of fans out of thousands of dollars.

Multiple users on Twitter came forward on Tuesday night after an Instagram post from former Memphis guard Dug McDaniel accused Collins of scamming one of his friends.

"Frankieee scamming people for bread acting like he selling designer n shi just to scam a mf out they bread," McDaniel said. "Done gave dude multiple times to send my bread if u inna Vegas area dm me rq...He done did this shi to hella ppl ik and he think issa game."

Collins had posted a number of pieces of gear online for sale online from his time at Vanderbilt, TCU, Arizona State and Michigan. A number of users alleged that Collins double sold the items. In the weeks prior to McDaniel's post, a number of Vanderbilt fans had speculated that Collins had double sold items, but there was no definitive proof available to the public.

After McDaniel's post, a 15-minute video was posted with proof of Collins double selling memorabilia and failing to pay back a fan who appeared to catch on to the scheme.

The scandal comes in the fallout of Collins' controversial exit from Vanderbilt basketball in the midst of conference play. Sources told Vandy on SI at the time that Collins was at home rather than in Nashville relatively early into league play, well before Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington put Collins' status to rest after Vanderbilt's Mar. 3 win over Ole Miss.

“Frankie has left Nashville, and he's not gonna be on the team,” Byington said at the time. “It's gonna be good for both sides of it. 
We wish him well. So we'll roll with the guys we got.”

Collins last played in Vanderbilt’s overtime win over Memphis on Dec. 17. He averaged 7.8 points, 4.7 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game this season. Vanderbilt's fanbase quickly turned on Collins, though, and he was the subject of callouts from the Memorial Gymnasium.

"Toughen up, Frankie," a fan yelled.

Collins' Vanderbilt career started with Vanderbilt's fanbase gravitating towards him for his content creation and Byington saying that Collins had natural leadership ability that would help his team, but it's devolved into one of Vanderbilt's most controversial careers in recent memory.

As of Tuesday, Collins hasn't committed publicly to a school out of the transfer portal.

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Joey Dwyer
JOEY DWYER

Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.

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