SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Spartanburg Methodist College announced the hiring of Robbie Higdon to coach the men's wrestling team. 

Higdon plans to build on the successes the Pioneers have made during their first three seasons of intercollegiate wrestling and to seek higher national rankings. 

Higdon brings several years of coaching and wrestling experience into the SMC team as an assistant coach at Carson-Newman College for three years and more recently at Darlington High School where he was wrestling coach for two years. He was also on the wrestling team at UNC-Pembroke, where he was a two-time qualifier and All-American. He was also on the wrestling team at Bradenton High School at Bradenton, Fla., where he grew up. 

Higdon has a Masters Degree in Teaching from Carson-Newman and a Bachelor's Degree in Health and Physical Education from UNC-Pembroke. 

He currently teaches physical education at Holly Springs-Motlow Elementary School and resides in Spartanburg with his wife Carmen and their three-year-old son Robert Paul "Bo." 

SMC has 13 intercollegiate athletic teams and has had athletic representation at National Championships, Regional and divisional Championships and World Series Appearances. Now in its 95th year of providing a quality education to students in a Christian environment, SMC is the only private two-year residential college in South Carolina.