University of Montana Women's Golf

Higgins second year as head womens golf coach at the University of Montana. He previously coached at Concordia-St. Paul.   In their first year competing for Higgins, the Grizzlies finished with a team scoring average of 312.7. Montana had an average of 315.6 in the fall, then lowered that to 309.9 in the spring. The teams last three tournaments of the year were played at 305.4.   Montana tied for eighth at its first Big Sky Conference championship under Higgins, but shot a three-round score of 902, the best for the championship in program history, including the 904 the 2006 team won while winning the Big Sky title.   Freshman Baylee Barckley tied for fifth at the championship, with rounds of 72, 73 and 72.   Six players earned Academic All-Big Sky Conference honors in Higgins first year, and Barckley, Sadie Crippen, Hailey Hoagland and Amanda Kahn were named All-American Scholars by the Womens Golf Coaches Association.   In his previous position, Higgins led the Concordia-St. Paul womens and mens golf teams to nine NCAA regional appearances.   Higgins, a two-time Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference coach of the year, started the schools womens program in 2001-02. The Golden Bears started competing at the NCAA Division II level in 2002-03. Concordia St. Pauls mens program began competing in NCAA Division II in 2004-05.   Higginss womens team made its first NCAA Central Regional appearance in 2009 and advanced to the 12-team Division II national championship in 2009 and 11. The Golden Bears made it seven consecutive regional appearances in 2015, in Higgins last year. The CSP mens team made regionals in 2010 and 12.   The coachs womens team had a GPA of 3.78 in 2014-15, the second-highest mark across all three NCAA divisions on the WGCA Academic Honor Roll. Three times under Higgins the Golden Bears had the top GPA in all of Division II.   A Minnesota native, Higgins earned his degree in Christian ministry from the University of Northwestern-St. Paul in 2014. He has two daughters, Leah and Kellie.