Comic Relief Whitworth’s First-Year Women’s Coach Mixes Fun With Success

The Whitworth Pirates not only got a women’s basketball coach in Helen Higgs, they also got a 6-foot-4 version of Elaine Boozler.

The taped message on Higgs’ answering machine says: “Hi, I’m not home right now because I’m an alternate juror in the O.J. Simpson case, and I’m being sequestered. If you leave your name and number and the best O.J. news that you have, I’ll get back to you in about six months. Thanks, bye.”

Then there’s the videotape of Higgs and a University of Utah assistant coach doing a Sonny and Cher lip-sync before participants at a Utes summer camp a few years ago.

As Cher, from top of black afro wig to toe, Higgs inched closer to 6-9.

But it’s not all leave-a-message-at-the-beep and Karaoke for the 32-year-old coach.

There’s a serious side to her, and one that produced a first-ever postseason NAIA Division II national tournament for her Whitworth Pirates.

The Pirates (18-11) will take on the Culver-Stockton Wildcats of Canton, Mo., Thursday at 9:15 p.m. at Monmouth, Ore. The Wildcats, representing the Heart of America Athletic Conference, enter with a 29-5 record. They are led by Carie Boudreau, who averages 17 points a game.

Higgs helped get the team to the 32-field playoffs with a mixture of humor and intensity. The two qualities may be attributed to her childhood environment.

Higgs said a practical joker for a brother and a competitive sister helped shaped her personality.

“For the most part, we all have a pretty warped sense of humor.”

But early in the season for the Pirates, the funny and the fiery confused them.

“She would joke with us before practice and before games and we weren’t used to that,” team co-captain Annette Sweeney said.

“That was never the case before. We realized that you can joke around and not have that hanging over your head. We’re serious in what we do, but there’s fun involved in it too.”

The end result of these co-existent characteristics has resulted in a remarkable season. First-year coaches with just nine active players don’t go to the national playoffs on a regular basis.

“Being a first-year coach in some ways helped me. I honestly felt like we could get things done.”

Whitworth athletic director Kevin Bryant never questioned Higgs’ character as a person or as a coach. But he didn’t think the team could put together such a successful season so fast.

“She didn’t even have a recruiting year. The newness of the job was my biggest concern. I’m glad she didn’t believe any of us when we told her to be patient.

Higgs was an assistant at Utah under Elaine Elliott before coming to Whitworth. Before that, she was an assistant under former Gonzaga coach Mike Petersen. The adjustment from the NCAA Divsion I level to NAIA Division II has suited her just fine.

“I don’t have this big dream of coaching at the Division I level. I think that helped cost me one of the jobs that I interviewed at a bigger school just before I interviewed with Whitworth.”

And that is sweet music to Bryant’s ears because there already are rumors Higgs will be leaving Whitworth.

“A recruit called me at home Saturday to get confirmation on my departure. Besides, one year doesn’t mean I’m a great coach. It just means I can coach this team. Next year is entirely new. This is a great situation for me here. I’m not leaving.

“Well, if Tara VanDerveer quits at Stanford and they asked me to take over… . “

And it’s precisely that sense of humor that has made Higgs not only popular with her team, but with most of the other people at Whitworth she works with.

When Higgs took over, from the outset, she said she felt the team needed to unwind a bit.

“This team needed to relax. These kids operate at a high level academically and athletically. I’m intense as a coach and I love the game, but I think you can have fun with it when it’s appropriate.”

But fun is something the Pirates certainly weren’t having early in the season.

During a timeout in an early season loss to Gonzaga, Higgs, frustrated with an apparent lack of enthusiasm from the team, told it: “You guys leave me feeling exasperated!” In the next sentence she said: “Exasperated isn’t even in my vocabulary and now I’m using it!”

After that loss, the Pirates fell to 3-8. But in their next 18 games, they posted a record of 15-3.

“Last year at Utah, we went through the worst season in the program’s history. I think that helped me here. The season is like a marathon. I just told them not to panic. Our goal at the start of the season was to win the conference. It didn’t matter how good or bad we were early.”

After reaching the goal of getting the NCIC crown, Higgs had the team create a new one for the tournament.

“We want to win the whole thing,” Higgs said. “Personally, I don’t plan on going there to lose in the first-round game.”

And Higgs and the Pirates aren’t joking about that.