Guinn: Four-time state champion Higgins ‘the right guy at the right time’ to lead Golden Tiger football program

After a couple weeks of speculation and anticipation, the wait is over for the Russellville High School football program and its supporters—a championship-caliber head football coach was officially hired on Saturday afternoon.

Darrell Higgins, a coaching veteran with over three decades of experience and a four-time state championship winner in 10 seasons as head coach at Mars Hill Bible School, announced his resignation from MHBS on Friday and was unanimously tapped by the Russellville City Schools Board of Education as the new head coach of the Golden Tigers during a called special meeting a day later. Higgins was also hired as the athletic director and as a teacher.

The RCS Board wasted no time in its search for the football program’s 29th head coach; the job was posted soon after former head coach Dustin Goodwin told RCS Superintendent Tim Guinn of his intention to leave for another school, and the afternoon following the required two week window closed on January 23, Higgins was handed the reins.

“I felt it was important to find the right guy at the right time in the right place here at Russellville, and we’ve done that with Coach Higgins. We had a 14-day posting in place that ended Friday we could not get around, so this was done once that ended,” Guinn said after the meeting.

“We had a very good cross-section of some candidates with extensive offensive and defensive coordinator experience at some of Alabama’s top schools. We had some out-of-state candidates, including one who coached in the European professional league. We had candidates with more than 20 years’ experience coaching teams in Alabama and Florida where they built programs. Darrell’s resume includes longevity both at Deshler and Mars Hill, so he’s not one to up and go, and we needed someone who’s going to be here a while and I expect he’ll be with us for a long time,” Guinn added.

“We are thrilled to welcome Coach Higgins and his family to Russellville and proud to have him here to lead our Golden Tigers.”

Due to the weather, Higgins was unable to attend the Board meeting on Saturday, but the Franklin Free Press spoke to him over the weekend. For his part, Higgins said the decision to leave Mars Hill was a difficult one but the right one for him, his family, their future, and his career at this time.

“It was very hard to leave (Mars Hill). It’s a special place and I had a very wonderful 10 years there,” he said. “There were a couple factors: one is that I needed to get back in the state retirement system. I’ve got 22 years in the system and you’ve got to have 25 for full retirement, so I knew when I took the Mars Hill job at some point I’d have to go back (to a public school).

“There’s never a good time to leave, but I’ve had three kids go through there and my last son just graduated from there…and I guess the final piece was when the state separated the public schools and private schools,” he added. “I had been praying for a sign and I took that as my sign that it was time to get back into a public school.”

Higgins’ previous 22 years in the public school system date back to his time at Deshler High School where he was an assistant football coach. Most of those years were spent as an assistant under long-time Deshler head coach John Mothershed, who won 201 games over 19 seasons in charge of the Tigers. (Mothershed is expected to join Higgins’ staff as a part-time assistant.) 

Higgins was Deshler’s offensive coordinator for 12 seasons prior to taking over the Mars Hill program. In his time at DHS, Higgins helped the Tigers to seven state championship appearances, including back-to-back state titles in 1998 and 1999.

Higgins was named the second head coach of the Mars Hill football program ahead of the 2016 campaign. There Higgins had unprecedented success. He led the Panthers to a Class 1A state title in 2018, a 2A title in 2020, and back-to-back 3A championships in 2024 and 2025. Higgins holds a 29-5 playoff record and is the only coach in state history to win championships in three different classifications.

Higgins’ success speaks for itself, but with all the changes taking place across the high school athletics landscape, including reclassification and Russellville’s new region realignment, Guinn added the coach’s ability to build a program, his leadership, his commitment, and his willingness to take on challenges all pointed to him being the right man to lead the Golden Tigers into the future.

“His success in building the Mars Hill program was a big factor,” Guinn said. “When he got there 10 years ago, they had very little in place. But they had Dexter Rutherford (MHBS Principal) who knew how to do it right, and we watched Coach Higgins build this program from the ground up doing an outstanding job. And we have no doubt he’ll do the same thing here.

“There are different types of leaders. The type of leader I believe will do well in this environment at Russellville is one who’s a person of intelligence and faith, and an individual who doesn’t mind working hard and doesn’t see obstacles in front of them as anything but an opportunity to overcome. And that’s what we’ve found in Darrell Higgins,” Guinn added. “He has no qualms or equivocations about his commitment here. He’s not one to run from a challenge. We used to play these teams like Muscle Shoals, Cullman, before so now we’ll play them again and we’ll rebuild this program.”

As a long-time Deshler assistant and Mars Hill head coach—Russellville and Deshler have played every season since 1988 and RHS and MBHS have faced off in each of the last four seasons—Higgins is probably about as familiar with the Golden Tigers as an opposing coach can be. He knows of the program’s traditional success and said he is looking forward to the challenge of adding to that tradition.

“Russellville’s always had a tremendous program, and I’ve always had a lot of respect for them. When we were at Deshler, we always started the season against Russellville and it was a huge game we knew we needed to prepare all summer for to have a good game. And when we went to Mars Hill I was really excited about getting Russellville on the schedule to see how we could line up and compete against such a program,” he said. “Now, getting to be here myself, I’m just really excited to be a part of the school and the community and hopefully continue to build on what’s already a great foundation.”

The 2026 football season is still a full six or so months away, but it won’t be long before preparations for it begin. For now, Higgins’ message to the Golden Tiger community is a simple one:

“We’re going to bring it every day in our workouts, and our kids are going to know how to compete,” he said. “They’re going to work as hard as anyone out there and then harder. It means a lot to me and everyone that I work with that we put a great product on the field and something that everyone can be proud of.

“I’m really excited about the job, and I can’t wait to get started,” he added.

Higgins is expected on campus when classes resume this week. There will be a reception welcoming Coach Higgins and his family, sponsored by the Russellville High School Booster Club, at the RHS Fieldhouse Thursday afternoon.