The University of Texas of the Permian Basin President Dr. David Watts announced at a Friday morning press conference that Justin Carrigan has been named the first head football coach in UTPB history.

Carrigan comes to UTPB having spent the last five years as an assistant at Tarleton State, including the last three seasons as offensive coordinator.

"Justin brings an enormous amount of experience, success in Texas football and relationships with coaches and players all over Texas," said Watts. "We are proud to have Justin Carrigan as the first coach of UTPB football.  He will instill in his team the kind of values, commitment to integrity and success that is the hallmark of UTPB athletics."

The Tarleton State offense has improved in each of its three years with Carrigan at the helm, averaging 485 yards of offense since 2012. The Texans scored 43.7 points per game in 2014, averaging 522.8 yards of offense in 10 games.

TSU has finished above .500 in the Lone Star Conference in each of the previous three seasons, including an LSC Championship after a 5-1 conference season in 2013.

"Justin brought many positive and attractive qualities to the table," said Athletics Director Steve Aicinena.  "Noteworthy is that he's very familiar with Texas high school football and numerous coaches throughout the state. He's been recruiting the state for 10 years and it's difficult to come into a situation and have no high school recruiting contacts. Second, student-athletes and their parents spoke very highly of him along with those in the programs he's worked for."

Carrigan started at Tarleton State in 2010 as the program's quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator. He moved to wide receivers coach before the 2011 season before taking over the offense for the last three years.

"He's a very intense young man," said Aicinena. "One of the things I admired was his work ethic and what he's done to achieve what he has to this point. The committee and I were all impressed with that and believe that he will work very hard to make our program something that the university and community will be proud of. Justin has a well-established history of success on the offensive side of the ball as an offensive coordinator. We have every expectation that will make our style of play exciting and fun to watch."

Prior to his five year stint at TSU, he spent a year at Texas-El Paso working with the Miners' passing game.

Before his season at UTEP, Carrigan started his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant in 2005 at Midwestern State. In 2007 he took on duties as wide receivers coach and strength and conditioning for nine varsity teams. A season later he was promoted to passing game coordinator and helped Midwestern State's offense average 549.4 yards per game in 2007.

Carrigan graduated with a degree in kinesiology in 2003 from Angelo State where he was a two-time All-LSC safety. A three-year starter in the secondary, he was all conference in 2000 & 2001 and was a team captain in 2002. He earned his master's degree in sports administration from Midwestern State in 2009.