The Emporia State Athletic Department has set a press conference for 11:30 a.m. Friday to announce the new Emporia State football coach and perhaps reunite a former player with his alma mater.
Emporia Radio Stations, Inc., reported today that Northeastern (Okla.) State offensive coordinator Garin Higgins will be named the next Hornet football coach, replacing Dave Wiemers who resigned last month.
If Higgins is the pick, it would link him again with ESU, where he was a four-year letterman as quarterback between 1987-90. It would also bring his wife, Heather, back home. She is the daughter of Tim and Janell North.
Tim North, who owns John North Ford, told The Gazette this morning that he had not heard final word on whether Higgins had received the position.
If it happened, he said, “We’d be thrilled. It’d be nice to have my grandkids right in the same town instead of 4 1/2 hours away like they are now. We’d be tickled.”
The Higginses have three children — a son, Halen, and daughters, Harlee and Gracyn, according to Garin Higgins’ bio on the Northeastern State Web site.
The move to Emporia could be a settling spot for the family, as Higgins has moved frequently during his coaching career.
After graduating from ESU in 1992, he became a graduate assistant at Northeastern State. He later served as head coach at Northwestern Oklahoma State of the NAIA, posting an impressive 51-9 during his time there.
From 1999-2003, Higgins’ offense racked up a 42-points-per-game average at Northwestern State. His rushing offense was first in the nation in both 1999 and 2000, and his team won 31 consecutive games from October 1998 to December 2000. He was named Central State Football League Coach of the Year in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
Though he wasn’t a Division-II coach, Higgins proved he could compete against D-2 competition. Northwestern State, an NAIA school, was 15-3 against the Division-II opponents it faced during Higgins’ tenure.
He coached one year as co-offensive coordinator at Division II Minnesota-Mankato before heading to Tahlequah, Okla., in December 2005 to take the offensive coordinator position at Northeastern State.
During his time with the Hornets, ESU went to the national championship game in 1989.
tballchase (anonymous) says...
this would be a great hire. a young, energetic successful coach that has strong ties to ESU. He has been able to recruit very good talent to "not the most desirable locations" and build solid programs. he could energize the football program and with his offensive background bring excitement to the game.
December 14, 2006 at 6:50 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bigbleachercreature (anonymous) says...
The first mistake this athletic administration made was not supporting the financial needs of the football program to be consistenly successful in the MIAA and then apparently pressuring Dave Wiemers into resigning. The second mistake they made was not hiring Joe Bob Clements. The third mistake was in hiring Garin Higgins, an offensive coordinator at a low level division II school with some head coaching experience at a small NAIAA college. How sad. In spite of it all, the Hornets will probably be fairly successful for the next couple of years. Wiemers had some very good talent in place. They only needed this past season to mature enough to be able to handle situations in all of those close games they lost by a couple of points. There needs to be a change in thinking and better financial strategy by this present athletic administration, or better yet, a change in the present athletic administration.
December 15, 2006 at 1:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
simpleman (anonymous) says...
What is Emporia State doing? First we fire Wiemers which I believe he should have got one more year. Then we go out and hire pretty much a NAIA coach who has coached only a couple years in Division II in a weak conference. Also who is calling the shots in the Athletic department. To my knowledge its not Weiser but other people in the community with money. If they are going to make all the decisions for ESU why don't we get rid of Weiser and put that money into good use.
December 15, 2006 at 9:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
DeniLin (anonymous) says...
OK, I think ya'll need to give Garin a chance. I have known Garin for a long time. I graduated from High School with him. Garin did a great job as head coach at NWOSU and I know he will do a great job at Emporia State.
Congrats Garin. We are proud of you.
Denise (Purdy) Lewis
December 15, 2006 at 11:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )