Meridian graduate finds himself a long way from baseball

J.T. Higgins started his career working in public relations for the Las Vegas Stars minor-league baseball team with dreams of becoming a baseball general manager.

Instead, that job put him on a different path - one Higgins never expected and one he at first shunned.

Higgins, a Meridian High graduate, eventually became the Texas A&M men's golf coach.

And two weeks ago, he led the Aggies to the NCAA championship.

It was a stunning crescendo to the career of a coach who never played golf seriously and initially turned down the job that launched his career.

"It has been a crazy ride," Higgins said.

Higgins lived in Meridian from ninth through 12th grades. He helped the Warriors win the 1983 basketball state championship.

The players on that team - all of whom have stayed in contact, Higgins said - were among those who called, e-mailed or texted Higgins to congratulate him on the Aggies' unexpected triumph.

"It has been overwhelming," Higgins said. "I've tried to keep up, but it's probably going to take me a month or so."

Higgins' adventure began with a basketball career at Eastern Oregon State in La Grande. He also played baseball for a year and served as the school's sports information director as a senior. He continued his education at the U.S. Sports Academy in Alabama and snagged the job with the Stars during a visit to the baseball winter meetings.

A year later, UNLV offered him a job in its sports information department. Higgins didn't want to leave baseball, but with three young children he decided the state benefits were too much to pass up.

His first year at UNLV, 1990-91, he worked with the men's basketball team that went undefeated before losing to Duke in the national championship game.

When it came time to choose a spring sport, he was told baseball was taken.

"So I picked golf," Higgins said.

And the golf coach liked him enough that he asked Higgins to become the assistant coach.

"I told him no - I didn't know anything about golf," Higgins said. "He told me he would teach me everything I needed to know, that he thought I'd be a really good recruiter, that he liked how hard I worked for all the teams. I still told him no.

"And then he offered me a $5,000 raise and a car, so I jumped at it."

And a whirlwind began.

Higgins helped the Rebels earn the No. 1 ranking for three years in a row. He missed out on their national title in 1998, though, because he left after the previous season to become the golf coach at New Mexico.

After being named Mountain West Coach of the Year in 2001, he jumped to Texas A&M, taking over a struggling program that was building a new training facility and Jack Nicklaus course.

The Aggies have been climbing ever since. They were ranked 12th going into the NCAA's 54 holes of stroke play, where they finished seventh to advance to the eight-team match-play tournament. They won the title when senior Bronson Burgoon hit his approach shot to within 3 inches on the final hole.

"I just thought we were tougher," Higgins said. "Mentally, they were so strong that whole week."

Higgins' success might yet land him in a job he did dream about when he was younger. Second to baseball GM was college athletic director.

That goal remains on his mind, but not in the forefront.

"Right now, I'm focused on figuring out how we can do this again," he said, "because we had a good time this year. I'd like to get at least one more. But being an A.D. would be fun - especially trying to build a program. It would be the same type of deal - someone with a little vision who wants to build a great program and is willing to take a chance on somebody who maybe has some ideas."