UTPB needs new football coach after Justin Carrigan named deputy AD
Nine-year UT Permian Basin Head Football Coach Justin Carrigan has been named deputy athletic director at the university, prompting a nationwide search for a new head football coach.
Carrigan was the first coach in UTPB program’s history beginning in 2015. While building the program from the ground up, he won 25 games, increased the number of scholarship players, unveiled a state-of-the-art workout facility for all university athletes and led the Falcons to its first ever bowl game (2021 Heritage Bowl), according to UTPB Sports Information Director Tom Perpetua.
Carrigan “will utilize his skills and experience to elevate and promote all 16 sponsored programs” in his new role as deputy athletic director,” Perpetua said.
University President Sandra Woodley expressed gratitude to Carrigan for building the football program “with class and dignity,” setting it up for success “for years to come.”
“I am proud of the impact that Justin has had, not only on our football program, but the entire University,” University President Sandra Woodley said. “We have benefited from his work ethic and dedication to student-athletes. I know he will provide tremendous value as he takes on this important new role for athletics.”
Carrigan joined UTPB following five seasons as an assistant at Tarleton, where he spent three seasons as offensive coordinator and won a Lone Star Conference Championship in 2013, according to his bio on the university website. He previously spent time coaching at the University of Texas-El Paso and at MSU Texas.
Carrigan was a two-time ALL LSC safety at Angelo State, where he graduated with a degree in kinesiology in 2003. He earned his master’s degree in sports administration from Midwestern State in 2009.
He lives in Odessa with his wife Heather and kids Madalyn and Gunner, according to UTPB.
In a statement, Carrigan thanked “all of the wonderful people of the Permian Basin.” When the program started, he said he and three other coaches, three wives and four kids lived together in a single wide trailer on campus for the first six months.
“Starting with 12 scholarships, no locker room, no weight room and a dirt patch sticker field with one upright, we managed to field a team, and put a respectable produce on the field nad in the community,” Carrigan said. “In 2020, we moved into some of the best facilities in division 2 football, and in the past 3 years we have gone 15-12 as a program and 10-9 against Lone Star Conference opponents.”
Carrigan said there’s no doubt the program “is on the cusp of achieving monumental success.”
“There is great talent in that locker room, and more importantly, there are great young men,” he said, adding that he will be the next UTPB football coach’s “biggest fan.”
