Gary Higgins

Biography

Gary Higgins enters his second season at NC State in 2026 after being named head coach of the Wolfpack women’s soccer program in December 2024. A respected and accomplished leader with a proven track record of success, Higgins owns a career record of 115-57-32 across 11 seasons as a head coach. The 2025 slate was Higgins' first year leading the Pack, where he guided the team to a 5-9-4 campaign that saw the most wins in a season for the program since 2022. The team also won four ACC contests, the most since 2021. During the campaign, Higgins' lead NC State to a six-match unbeaten streak in league play, which tied the program record for most conference games without a loss. Higgins joined NC State following three seasons as head coach at East Carolina, where he guided the team to its first conference title in the 30-year history of the program. During his final season with the Pirates in 2024, he led East Carolina to a 10-4-7 record, an American Athletic Conference championship, and the program’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Six players earned spots on AAC postseason teams under his leadership. In 2023, his second season as ECU head coach, Higgins led the Pirates to a 9-5-5 finish, marking the program’s first record above .500 since 2018. Four players earned all-conference recognition including the league’s player of the year, the first ECU player to earn that honor since 2008, and the conference’s defensive player of the year. In his first season in Greenville, Hi