Florida HS coach steps down week before fall camp to join Tennessee Tech staff

The timing here is going to sting in Palm Beach County. 

With the start of camp just a week away, Tyrone Higgins II is stepping down as head coach at Palm Beach Gardens (FL). The Palm Beach post adds that the decision comes after he has accepted a position on staff at Tennessee Tech (FCS).

For a program that just wrapped its offseason work and was gearing up to hit the practice field, losing your head coach this close to the opener is about as tough a spot as it gets. Camp installs, depth chart calls, the staff, the whole thing now runs through whoever the school turns to next.

Higgins went 44-36 over seven seasons with the Gators, a run that put him among the more established names in that part of the state. It is a job that carried real meaning for him. He played linebacker for Palm Beach Gardens, went on to play at Florida Atlantic, then came back to coach, first as a linebackers coach on a Gardens championship staff, later with a stop at Palm Beach Lakes, before returning to run the program that helped to shape him.

Higgins announced the move in a letter on social media to the Palm Beach Gardens community, framing it as a jump he did not take lightly.

"After much prayer, reflection, and many difficult conversations with my family, I have made the incredibly difficult decision to resign as Head Football Coach at Palm Beach Gardens High School to accept an opportunity to coach at the collegiate level," Higgins wrote. "This decision has not come easily. The timing is far from ideal, and I understand that it may come as a surprise to many of you, especially our players."

Tennessee Tech is an FCS program in Cookeville, Tennessee. Making that jump a week out from a high school preseason is unusual, but so often the staff openings on the college timeline simply can't wait for the high school calendar.

For the players, Higgins had a direct message for them. "Do not allow my departure to change your commitment to one another or to this program. Palm Beach Gardens is bigger than any one coach," he wrote, adding a note aimed at a portal era that has trickled down to the high school level: "In today's world, where transferring has become common and uncertainty can create doubt, I encourage you to stay the course."

A senior class that expected to play its final season for the coach who set the culture now heads into camp with that changed. Underclassmen who committed to Higgins and his staff are in the same boat. High school coaching changes rarely land cleanly, and one this late leaves almost no runway for the athletic department to get out ahead of it.

Palm Beach Gardens will have to move fast. Whether the school elevates someone already on staff to keep continuity through the opener or looks outside, the priority is getting a leader in front of the team before the first practice so the season does not lose its footing before it starts.

Higgins leaves with a winning record and a full career chapter at the school that raised him as a player and gave him his first head coaching job. "Once a Gator, always a Gator," he wrote. Where it goes from here, for both him at Tennessee Tech and the Gators heading into the season, is worth watching.

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