July 29, 2011
Holman Wiggins came to Tulsa from Illinois State where he spent five seasons (2006-10) coaching the running backs. Wiggins was named to the Golden Hurricane coaching staff on January 21, 2011 and serves as running back coach.
In his first season at Illinois State, the Redbirds totaled 169 yards per game in 13 contests in 2006, as Pierre Rembert rushed for a school-record 1,743 yards and received All-America accolades by the Associated Press. That Redbird team posted a 9-4 record, advanced to the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) quarterfinals and finished the season with a No. 8 national ranking.
A year later, the Illinois State offense gained 199 yards on the ground while two running backs combined for 1,742 of the Redbirds' 2,194 rushing yards. In addition, three Redbird running backs became the first-ever trio in school history to each rush for over 100 yards in the same game, as the threesome accomplished the feat against Indiana State.
The 2008 season saw Illinois State total 197 rushing yards per game while three running backs carried the load for the Redbirds, totaling 1,911 yards of ISU's 2,169 total rushing yards.
Before his stint at ISU, Wiggins worked two seasons as a student assistant coach and one year as a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater, New Mexico. As a student assistant, he worked with the Lobo running backs, while shifting his focus to quarterbacks and wide receivers as a graduate assistant coach.
Wiggins was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter at running back for the Lobos (1998-2001). He finished his collegiate career ranked No. 14 all-time in rushing (1,833 yards) and No. 12 in all-purpose yardage (2,912 yards) in New Mexico history.
A native of Los Angeles, Wiggins received his bachelor's degree in psychology from New Mexico in 2003 and worked on his master's degree in counseling and child psychology.
Wiggins and his wife, Dominique, have four daughters: Justyce, Karyn, Brooklyn and Journye.
Saturday's "Get to Know the Coach" is Greg Peterson.