Heading into 2023 the Saint Augustine Falcons football team has had little-to-no success, in the past couple of seasons but the university officials hope the hiring of new head football coach Howard Feggins will change all of that. Figgins, who has had four decades of football coaching experience, is coming to Saint Augustine’s from Fayetteville State University, where he served as the team’s offensive coordinator. Fayetteville State went undefeated in the central intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Southern division last year 2022.
Coach Feggins has high hopes. “I am excited for the opportunity to coach these young men,” he said. “If they give their all then we have the best opportunity to win. … I’m not here to build this program; I’m here to win.”
The coach also spent four seasons as assistant coach with Colorado State-Pueblo, where he helped the players have a resulting team GPA of 3.2, He said that shows that shows that he cares about the players from an academic sense as well as from an athletics sense.
Changing the mindset of a young team that does not know how to win it is going to be a challenging task, said Feggins. But if the players trust in the process, he believes that they can be a talented team. But he added, “It’s going to be hard to beat those tough teams when most of your players are freshmen and sophomores.” He said he is looking at not only the talent he already has but also some junior college players and transfers who are older guys who have played college football and have the experience.
Coach Feggins said he expects the guys to come in and work he had a talk with some of the players and ask the last time they practiced or come out here to work out. “Some guys are not going to last,” he said. “When I’m evaluating the talent I have and the talent that is coming in through transfers, I will see who wants to be the leader and who wants to win. The best players will play.”
The coach said he is excited at the opportunity to help young men not just from an athletic perspective but from an academic perspective: “I do not only care how good of a team we are talent-wise. The first thing we’ve got to be winning is in the classroom.”
–-Brenton Chapple
