Thai Haggin’s office contains a lot of things related to her time at Bismarck State College—a basketball with a BSC logo and other college memorabilia, thank you cards from athletes, Christmas and family photos, a motivational poster that says: “OPPORTUNITY, You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” and a ring she won from a national title in 2000.
Athletic Coordinator and Women's Basketball/Softball Coach Thai Haggin has been coaching for 20 years, starting off at Mandan Middle School coaching girls’ basketball where she also taught physical education before arriving at BSC. Not only has she been a coach at BSC, she is also a mother of two daughters, one 18 and the other 10 years old.
Haggin has been playing sports her entire life starting in Williston, playing sports like basketball, softball, volleyball and tennis. After graduation, she went to the University of Mary to continue these sports on the college level. There, she met the coach that would influence her into her career path, Robert Haug, a former Men’s Football and Women’s Basketball Coach at UMary.
It was then that she decided to coach students starting at Mandan Middle school in 2002. In 2017, she decided to become a part-time assistant basketball coach for the college. Three years later, she was promoted to become the head coach for the women's basketball and softball programs—it is currently her second year in the position.
Since Haggin began working for BSC, she started a family in the process with her oldest daughter currently studying at BSC while her other daughter is still in elementary school.
Additionally, during the winter, Haggin said that her family is super involved in BSC athletics. Since her family lives in the area, they come to visit BSC to come watch her games. She also said her youngest comes to practice after school.
Throughout the three years that Haggin has coached here, she has seen a lot of athletes come and go. When it comes to college athletes, she says that they are way more independent than younger athletes, meaning that they don't require as much handholding. Haggin also said that college athletes come with a specific goal in mind.
“So it teaches you time management, it teaches you how to be a leader, teaches you teamwork, it teaches you how to communicate, you know? Things that you need in society, you know, to be successful,” said Haggin.
Additionally, Haggin said that the biggest difference between high school and college students is that they're just a little bit more mature, and she likes how they physically grow from high school as the speed of the game is a lot faster in college.
“I've had a few athletes that, you know, mentioned they want to coach and I have some athletes to coach younger kids, like, a travel team or things like that. So yeah, there are athletes out there that do want to stay within the sports related fields.I think that the future’s very bright for that,” said Haggin.
Currently, Haggin is finishing up coaching the Softball season, with the last games played being the tournament conferences at Dawson Community College against all of the remaining teams from May 3-5.
Comments