Garin Higgins  Garin Higgins (born October 11, 1968) is an American football college coach and former player. Higgins is the head football coach at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas, a position he has held since the 2007 season. Higgins previously served as the head football coach at Northwestern Oklahoma State University from 2000 to 2004. His Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers finished as runners-up in the NAIA Football National Championship in 2000 and 2003. Higgins worked as co-offensive coordinator at Minnesota State University, Mankato and offensive coordinator at Northeastern State University in 2006. Higgins was born in Blackwell, Oklahoma, on October 11, 1968, where he was an all-state quarterback for the Blackwell High School football team. After graduating high school in 1987, Higgins attended Emporia State University, where he was the quarterback for the football team. While at Emporia State, Higgins helped lead the team to the 1989 NAIA championship game where they lost to Carson–Newman. After graduating Emporia State in 1992, Higgins served as a graduate assistant at Northeastern State University from 1992 through the 1993 season. In 1994, Higgins left for Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU) in where he held several positions from 1995 to 1999 including the running backs and quarterbacks coach for the first three seasons, and then moving to offensive coordinator from 1997 to 1999 before being named head coach in after the 1999 season. On February 14, 2000, Higgins was promoted to head coach at Northwestern Oklahoma State. Coming off of a championship season, Higgins led the Rangers to a 13–1 overall, 5–0 in conference play season, which in return led them being the Central States Football League champions and earned them a NAIA runners-up. The next season, 2001, turned out to be another winning season. Higgins led the Rangers to another conference title, ending the season in the first round of the NAIA postseason with an overall record of 7–3, 4–0 in conference play. In 2002, Higgins led the Rangers to another conference championship with a record of 11–1 overall, 4–0 in conference play, advancing the team to the NAIA quarterfinals. The following season in 2003, the Rangers won their fifth straight conference championship and advanced finished the season with an overall record of 11–2, 5–0 in conference play earning the runners-up in the NAIA. In 2004, Higgins' last season with the Rangers, the team won their sixth straight conference championship finishing the season in the first round of the NAIA postseason and an overall record of 9–2, 7–0 in conference play.