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Bradley University Athletics

Benet Higgs

Benet Higgs

  • Title
    Assistant Coach

Benet Higgs is in her fourth year on The Hilltop after joining the Bradley softball program as an assistant coach in August 2013 and assumed her role as the team’s hitting coach for the 2016 campaign.

In her first year as hitting coach last spring, Bradley clubbed a Missouri Valley Conference record 44 doubles in Valley play and tied a school record with 71 two-baggers.  The Braves also boasted a school record .447 slugging percentage in 2016 and hit the second most home runs (36) in school history.  Rachel Huggins took over at designated player and broke the school season record with 12 home runs in addition to teaming up with Bradley career home run leader Alyson Clemente to give the Braves two players with 38 or more RBI for the first time.  Clemente was one of two NFCA All-Region honorees for Bradley in 2016, with Kelly Kapp joining her on the team after becoming just the third Brave to hit .400 or better (.405) in a season.  In addition to the two all-region honorees, Bradley had four Second-Team All-MVC honorees for the most all-conference selections for the Braves since 1994.  

Higgs helped Bradley Softball match a school record with 15 conference victories in 2015.  Freshman outfielder Erika Hansen led the Valley with 20 doubles and was a Third-Team NFCA All-Mideast Region in addition to earning First-Team All-MVC honors after driving in a team-best 41 runs in 2015.  In addition, Kapp led the Valley with a school record 76 hits and swiped a conference-best 31 bases to become just the second player in Valley history with 75 hits and 30 steals in a season. 

In her first year with the Braves in 2014, she helped the team to their best Missouri Valley Conference finish (4th) since 1994, a school-record 15 MVC victories, a Valley Tournament title and the second NCAA Tournament appearance in school history.  The 2014 campaign featured one of the top offensive attacks in program history, with the squad scoring a school record 261 runs along with school records for home runs (41), RBI (237), total bases (635) and walks (171).

Higgs came to The Hilltop after spending the previous two years at Army and has six years of coaching experience at the NCAA Division I level.  During her two-year tenure with the Black Knights, Army combined for a 72-47 (.605) record and had the first back-to-back seasons with 35 or more wins in program history.

The 2013 season saw the Black Knights make their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002 and during Higgs’ two years at West Point Army produced four all-region selections.  In addition, Army boasted 11 All-Patriot League selections, including seven First-Team All-Patriot League honorees, along with the 2012 Pitcher and Rookie of the Year during her tenure.

A 2010 graduate of Stephen F. Austin, Higgs was an assistant coach at South Dakota State for the 2011 season and served as a student assistant coach at Stephen F. Austin in 2010 where she helped the Ladyjacks to their first regular-season Southland Conference title.

Higgs earned honorable mention All-Southland Conference honors as a sophomore at Stephen F. Austin, hitting leadoff and playing center field for the Ladyjacks while leading the squad in runs (27) and stolen bases (19).  She started 155 of her 181 games played during her collegiate career.  During her junior season, Higgs hit .317 to help lead the Ladyjacks to the first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.

An Antioch, Calif., native, Higgs earned bachelor’s degrees in both business economics and operations management.