Courier sports staff
Ottumwa Courier
OTTUMWA —
One of the most heralded athletes in the history of the Ottumwa girl’s basketball program has accepted a head coaching job at Indiana Tech College.
Jessie Biggs, the Bulldogs’ all-time leading scorer until this past season, will try to steer the NAIA Division II college’s women’s basketball program to a successful season this winter. The Warriors finished 14-17 last season.
Though the all-time high school scoring record of 1,128 points that Biggs set as a senior in 2003 was shattered by Kelsey Nickerson last winter, she still holds school records in all-time steals and assists. Additionally, Biggs was a star softball player who was selected to the all-state softball team multiple times from 1999-2003.
While it will be her first time running a college program, Biggs already has spent a significant amount of time serving in a coaching capacity. Before making the jump to Indiana Tech, Biggs spent two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Western Illinois University.
According to an Indiana Tech press release, while coaching the Leathernecks Biggs took on a plethora of roles including on-court coaching, individual workouts, working with guards, game preparation, scouting reports and monitoring the progress of student-athletes.
Prior to her stint at Western Illinois, Biggs served as an assistant coach at Coe College in Cedar Rapids. At Coe, a Division III school, she took on a multitude of tasks such as creating workout programs, practice plans and recruiting athletes. Plus, Biggs started and served as head coach of Kohawks JV team for her last two seasons at Coe while also helping coach the varsity squad.
Biggs’s stellar multi-sport high school career was impressive enough to earn her a spot on Northern Iowa’s roster after she graduated from Ottumwa. She continued to shine on the court at the college level. In 2007, Biggs earned Northern Iowa Female Athlete of the Year honors and was selected to the Missouri Valley Conference second team, according to the press release. She scored over 1,000 points in her four-year career with the Panthers and left the program as the school’s all-time leader in career starts with 107.
