Gary Higgins - Soccer Coach - East Carolina University Athletics

Gary Higgins

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
higginsg22@ecu.edu
Phone:
(252) 737-1427

Gary Higgins was appointed the fifth head women’s soccer coach at East Carolina University in March of 2022 after an historic tenure at Lenoir-Rhyne.

Team Success
In each of Higgins’ three seasons at the helm, the Pirates have improved their winning percentage over the season prior (.500 to .605 to .643), continuing a streak for the program which now stands at six straight years of improved winning percentages.

The Pirates saw a breakthrough in 2024, recording the program’s best winning percentage since 2008 at .643 (10-4-7) en route to winning the 2024 American Athletic Conference Tournament Championship and earning the program’s first ever NCAA Tournament Appearance. It was also the program’s first 10-win season since 2018.

Picked third in the AAC preseason poll, the Pirates finished the 2024 regular season in that spot and used it to earn three dramatic wins in the conference tournament. The “Cardiac Pirates” kicked the event off with a 2OT win over Charlotte on an Erica Roberts Golden Goal, Roberts’ first career goal. In the semifinal, it was a scintillating penalty-shootout victory over South Florida in which Maeve English not only made a critical save in the shootout, but also made an overtime stop which placed her at No. 7 on the next day’s SportsCenter Top 10 Plays. The title game was a heavyweight slugfest which was eventually ended by an Annabelle Abbott stunner in 2OT to top No. 19 Memphis.

Along the way, the team notched a few other signature results, including starting the season with a 1-0 win over NC State in Raleigh, a 1-1 draw at then No. 16 Memphis which ended the Tiger’s nation-leading 17-game home winning streak, and a beautiful Halloween night victory over Rice, 2-1 in Johnson Stadium to earn the three seed.

Entering the NCAA Tournament, the Pirates were unbeaten away from home on the season with a 7-0-3 record in true road and neutral site games. It was the first unbeaten road regular season in program history and the run only came to an end at last in the NCAA First Round against No. 14 South Carolina.

In his second season in 2023, Higgins oversaw the Pirates’ first over-.500 record since 2018 with a 9-5-5 finish. The team made the American Athletic Conference Tournament yet again with a 4-2-3 clip in league play before falling in the first round to Charlotte.

In his first season in Greenville in 2022, the Pirates got off to a torrid start, running out to a 5-2-1 record and earned votes in the United Soccer Coaches Poll for the first time in program history following a win at then-No. 19 SMU. Battling injuries, the Pirates would go on to an 8-8-3 record in Higgins’ first year, falling in the conference tournament to a gifted Memphis side in overtime, 1-0.

Mentoring Award Winners
The program saw more growth in 2024 with six players notching postseason conference recognition with Sydney Schnell earning All-Conference First Team, Abby Sowa nabbing All-Conference Second Team and Annabelle Abbott, Maeve English and Juliana Viera notching All-Conference Third Team honors while Caitlen-Star Dolan Boodram was named to the AAC All-Freshman Team.

For the team’s conference tournament run, Maeve English was named the American Athletic Conference Tournament’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player and Annabelle Abbott was named Most Outstanding Offensive Player after scoring the Golden Goal to defeat Memphis in the title match. Both players were named to the All-Tournament Team along with Erica Roberts, Sydney Schnell and Abby Sowa.

The 2023 saw four players earn All-Conference recognition while Jazmin Ferguson became the first ECU player to earn player of the year honors since 2008 as she was named the 2023 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

In 2022, Higgins guided three players to All-Conference honors and helped Jazmin Ferguson to the American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year award.

Record-Breaking Coaching
Since coming to Greenville, Higgins has overseen many changes to the East Carolina record book. For one, the Pirates earned votes in the United Soccer Coaches Poll for the first time in program history, just missing out on a top 25 ranking for two consecutive weeks in 2022. The program earned six votes on Sept. 13 and seven votes on Sept. 20.

Higgins’ Pirates have also been record breakers on the pitch with multiple individual’s earning their places on program top-five and top-10 lists.

In 2024, Maeve English recorded the third-most shutouts in program history with nine, besting her previous high of eight from the year prior which ranked sixth all-time.

Speaking of English, in 2022 she registered the third-best goals against average in program history a 0.94.

In the career ranks, Higgins oversaw Sydney Schnell moving into seventh in ECU history with 11 assists in her career. He also helped Maeve English into first in career shutouts with 30, second in career goals against average at 1.12 and third in career saves with 294. English also played the most minutes of any keeper in program history at 8,085, becoming the 25th keeper in NCAA history to reach 8,000 minutes in goal.

English and Annabelle Abbott played more games than any other players in program history with 88 appearances. English broke the career starts record with 88 while Abbott ranked second with 86. Additionally, Abby Sowa made 76 starts, just missing the top 10 in 11^th in program history, while finishing her career with 5,658 consecutive minutes played to anchor Higgins’ signature ECU defense.

Off the pitch, the Pirates have done quite a job getting fans to show out to games with three of the top 10 attended games in Johnson Stadium history coming in Higgins’ tenure with the facility record of 1,335 coming in his first game in Greenville against No. 2 Duke on Aug. 18, 2022.

Prior to East Carolina
While at Lenoir-Rhyne, Higgins became the all-time winningest coach in program history with a career record of 83-31-13, which includes a 49-16-1 mark in South Atlantic Conference (SAC) play. He guided the Bears to the 2021 NCAA Division II Semifinals before falling to eventual national champion Grand Valley State. It was the program’s first trip to the Final Four and the Bears’ final ranking of No. 4 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll was the highest in school history.

Higgins, a two-time SAC Coach-of-the-Year selection, led Lenoir-Rhyne to a pair of SAC regular season championships and one league tournament title. The Bears advanced to three NCAA Tournaments under Higgins’ watch, including the 2021 edition. He coached four All-America performers, most recently Ria Acton in 2021, and 46 all-conference picks, including the 2019 SAC Player-of-the-Year (Aqsa Mushtaq) and 2016 SAC Freshman-of-the-Year (Abigael McGarel).

Higgins’ squads also had success in the classroom with five Academic All-America honorees. Claire Neibergall was named the 2018 SAC Scholar-Athlete-of-the-Year - just the second Lenoir-Rhyne soccer player to win the award.

After starting his collegiate coaching career at Lenoir-Rhyne as an assistant for the men’s program, Higgins left his alma mater for Tusculum (Tenn.) where he was an assistant men’s coach from 2012 to 2015. The Pioneers went 24-24-6 with a SAC title in 2014 with Higgins on the staff.

As a player, Higgins was a four-year letterman at LR from 2006 to 2009 and earned Honorable Mention All-America accolades in 2007. He also was a two-time All-SAC and All-Region selection, leading the Bears to a 19-1-1 record in 2006 and a berth in the regional final of the NCAA Tournament.

A native of Paisley, Scotland, Higgins played for St. Mirren Football Club at the professional youth level and represented his country as a member of the U18 squad. He also played semi-professionally with the Reading (Pa.) Rage of the USL Premier Development League and captained the Knoxville Force of the NPSL. He led the Rage to the league semifinal in 2008 and garnered team MVP laurels.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in health and exercise science from Lenoir-Rhyne in 2009, Higgins completed requirements for a master’s in liberal arts from LR in 2011. Additionally, he holds a United Soccer Coaches Advanced National diploma as well as a USSF National D coaching license.

Higgins is married to the former Klara Ledford and the couple are the parents of daughters Mirin and Eilee.