After spending three years with current ASU head baseball coach Tracy Smith as the pitching coach, Brandon Higelin received the worst Christmas present possible from his boss in 2016.
Unemployment.
When the Sun Devils had returned from a trip to the Dominican Republic in the middle of December, Smith told Higelin that he would no longer be on the ASU staff.
“We got back from the trip to the Dominican, and he informed me then,” Higelin recounted to me. “It all went well. I was very appreciative of Coach Smith giving me the opportunity to coach out at Indiana with him and the opportunity to work with him at Arizona State.