Jim Higdon of Edinburgh and Hassan Abdullah of Penn are the IBCA Assistant Coaches of the Year. This is the fourth year that the IBCA has presented awards in this category.
Previous winners – 2018, Roger Bowling, Union County boys. 2019, Clark Miles, Jeffersonville boys, and Danny Pierce boys, Crawfordsville. 2020, Jim Brothers, North Putnam girls, and J.R. Moffatt, Hamilton Heights boys.
Jim Higdon, Edinburgh
Jim Higdon has made the difference for teenagers in general and basketball players in specific across Johnson County for more than four decades.
An assistant coach the past two seasons at Edinburgh High School, Higdon previously assisted at Franklin Community High School for 28 seasons and Whiteland High School for seven seasons. He undoubtedly has left his mark at all three schools in a 37-year coaching career.
“Jim is a caring person who always is able to see the possibilities and potential in the athletes with whom he has worked,” said Keith Witty, the boys’ head coach at Edinburgh. “Our players know he will push them to be their best, but he also is someone they can talk with when there is a problem.”
Higdon has coached teams from fifth grade through varsity throughout the years, yet he never has been a high school head coach as he also as he also worked as a juvenile probation officer and superintendent of the Johnson County Juvenile Detention Center as well as serving on the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office merit board.
“To say that he has helped shape the youth of Johnson County would be an understatement,” Witty said.
Matt Wadsworth, whom Higdon assisted at Whiteland, offered additional perspective.
“The patience that Jim learned in his professional career carried over into coaching,” said Wadsworth, currently the boys’ head coach at Edgewood. “He always set a high standard for players and was never one afraid to challenge a player when he was not living up to his potential. At the same time, he could offer encouragement to a player after a bad game, a bad practice or a butt chewing from the head coach.
“Jim’s greatest asset is that he never gives up on kids. He knows from experience that players need guidance and encouragement when they make a mistake on or off the court.”
On the basketball court, Witty noted Higdon’s impact.
“Jim is someone who has been through everything – sectional, regional, county and conference championships, winning seasons and losing seasons,” Witty said. “Through it all, he has remained the same passionate person on the sideline. … Our players have gained so much from what he brings, from break-down drills with our post players or conversations on the sideline during practice. Our players look to Jim for assistance when they are struggling.”
Wadsworth noted that Higdon was on the Whiteland staff when the Warriors won back-to-back Johnson County championships, the school’s first since 1955.
“His efforts at Whiteland rebuilt a struggling program, working with post players and preparing scouting reports for opponents,” Wadsworth said. “Still, winning is not Jim’s primary objective. He always has looked to help players develop into quality young men with moral integrity. Jim has impacted the lives of many players throughout his coaching career.”
Higdon began his role as a coach in 1983-84 working for Tom McKinney at Franklin Community High School. He sat out the 1984-85 season, but returned to Franklin in 1985-86 and worked in the Grizzly Cubs’ program for 27 additional years – totaling four seasons for McKinney, seven seasons for Steve Bennett and 16 seasons for Dave Clark. He followed by assisting Wadsworth at Whiteland from 2012-19, then moved to Edinburgh to assist Witty the past two seasons.
In his 37 seasons, the varsity teams at the three schools have an aggregate record of 438-399 with four Johnson County, six conference and nine sectional titles as well as one regional crown. The regional crown came in 1997 at Franklin, the last year of non-class basketball when the Cubs reached the semi-state final before falling to eventual state runner-up Delta. As a freshman team coach at Franklin, Higdon’s squads went 113-67 with two Mid-State Conference titles in 10 seasons.
A 1968 graduate of Greenwood High School, Higdon played four years of basketball, three years of baseball, ran cross country for one year and was the Woodmen baseball MVP as a senior. He initially attended Vincennes University after high school, then earned his bachelor’s degree in secondary education at IUPUI.
Professionally, Higdon became a juvenile probation officer in 1976 and served in that role for 14 years. He then was selected to be the first superintendent of the Johnson County Juvenile Detention Center, a position he held for 24 years before retiring in 2014.
Higdon and his wife, Mary Pat, have been married for 44 years. They have two adult sons – Brian, an IHSAA basketball official, and Michael, the JV boys’ basketball coach at Greenwood – and four grandchildren.
Hassan Abdullah, Penn
Hassan Abdullah has made a distinct impact over the past 12 seasons to everyone involved in the Penn High School girls’ basketball program. That is according to Penn girls’ varsity coach Kristi Ulrich, who nominated Abdullah for this recognition.
“Coach Hassan has greatly touched and enriched the lives of our players year after year,” Ulrich said. “He is passionate and loves to coach. He greatly enjoys teaching and helping young people see the best in themselves as they grow and develop from year to year.
“He genuinely cares about our players, regardless of whether they are past, present or future Kingsmen. From attending college games, middle school games, graduation parties, running clinics, checking in with a text or helping guide players make tough decisions, Coach Hassan always is there to provide stability and be a significant male role model for our program.”
Over the past 12 seasons, Penn has a state-best aggregate record of 277-36 in girls’ basketball – a .885 win percentage. During that span, the Kingsmen have won 10 sectionals, six regionals, three semi-states and the Class 4A state championship in 2016. Abdullah, who previously assisted for six seasons at other high schools, has had a key role in Penn player development at the high school level as well as serving as assistant director of the Lady Kingsmen feeder program that runs each fall.
“There is no one more loyal to their head coach, their program and their school than Coach Hassan,” Ulrich said. He does everything to support me as the head coach and uphold the philosophy of the program. He is open minded and always willing to grow, and he is a true ‘student of the game.’ He is open and honest with me as the head coach and not just a ‘yes man.’
“At the same time, he is enthusiastic, upbeat and positive. He sets an example for the players to follow both on and off the court. He is a servant leader, humble, carries himself with a high level of integrity and takes great pride in the program. There is no one I would rather go to battle with other than Coach Hassan Abdullah.”
Abdullah is a 1983 graduate of Niles High School in Michigan, where he competed in football, basketball and track. He attended Bloom High School in Chicago Heights, Ill., for a portion of his senior year – placing sixth in the high hurdles in the Illinois state track meet – but returned to Niles to graduate.
He went on to Prairie State College and South Suburban College, playing basketball for one season at each school. At Prairie State, he was selected to the all-tournament team at the Maui Invitational in 1985. At South Suburban, he was part of a nationally ranked team in 1986.
Abdullah started his coaching career in the mid-1990s with recreational teams, developmental teams and travel teams. He served as a men’s basketball assistant in 2002-03 for Ancilla College, a girls’ basketball assistant at Mishawaka in 2003-04, a boys’ basketball assistant in 2004-05 at Elkhart Central, a girls’ basketball assistant at Mishawaka in 2005-06 and a boys’ basketball assistant at Elkhart Central in 2006-09 before joining the Penn girls’ staff.
Abdullah is in his eighth year as an assistant groundskeeper for the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp. He previously worked as the Freshman Connections Supervisor for Penn High School from 2009-13.
“Coach Hassan has been a loyal individual to our PHM community not only as a coach, but he also is one of the corporation’s head groundskeepers,” Ulrich said. “This allows him to be involved with a lot of our sports on our main campus and travel around the corporation to keep our schools looking great. He is respected across the entire corporation as a professional who works hard and is devoted to the black and gold.”
Abdullah has three adult children – Brandon, Byron and Antreese – as well as three grandchildren.
