May 19, 2025

Ferris State in Your Community: ‘TJ’ Diggins’ years as a football player prepare for careers in education and officiating

Some 30 years after his time in the Ferris State football team’s backfield, Andrew “TJ” Diggins helps fill a void in interscholastic athletics and promotes inclusive sports in his role at Detroit’s East English Village Preparatory at Finney.

Diggins has had a variety of teaching and coaching experiences in Southeast Michigan and has folded in officiating as part of his schedule during the school year. 

He said his time as a football player allowed him to build relationship with teammates and a support network that helped him grow as a player and a person.

“I was recruited to Ferris to play tight end, but Eddie Kindle with the scout team coaching staff told Coach Keith Otterbein I could run the ball,” Diggins said. “I wound up playing fullback and tailback beyond tight end and had nearly 1,300 yards of offense in my career, with 15 touchdowns.”

Coming to Ferris State meant learning more about the backgrounds of other teammates, classmates and friends’ backgrounds, as Diggins had grown up and spent much of his time in Port Huron. 

“It allowed me to meet people who had grown up in places like Paw Paw and Niles, along with other parts of West Michigan,” Diggins said. “I got an idea of what the ‘Snow Belt’ was all about and being away from home really helped me to mature and become responsible.”

Diggins’ growth and desire to learn was made bolder by a professor and two Ferris State staff members, in particular.

“Philip Middleton was very direct with me, saying ‘You have to do better in your writing,’” Diggins said. “That really built my desire to work twice as hard at keeping up with and succeeding in my assignments. Carma Burcham in academic advising and Raymond Gant with the Office of Multicultural Student Services were so invested in my advancement on an academic and social pathway. They helped me learn how to persevere, become a man and take both sports and academics seriously. Getting my degree was the biggest accomplishment in my life.”

Diggins’ support system at Ferris was joined by a loving family who were dedicated to his progress and backing Ferris football, wherever that led them.

“My father, Andrew, my mother, Savannah, brother Jeff and sister Joy didn’t miss a game in the three years I would make the starting lineup,” Diggins said. “Their support was so important to me and though I have since lost my mother and brother, I love them so for it.”

Diggins was in a crowded, quality backfield on Ferris teams that made the NCAA playoffs in his final three years on the field. A few years later, he was a student assistant coach for former Ferris State offensive coordinator Barry Fagan at Wayne State University, coordinating its special teams that helped fuel an upset of the Bulldogs at Top Taggart Field. 

“We were able to turn the game on two fake punt plays,” Diggins said. “I was a student of the game all through my playing days, knowing the role of each player for each play we would run and applied that to my work at Wayne State. Teammates would call me ‘Coach.’ I coached at Wayne State while addressing business education coursework I needed for my degree, to graduate with minors in social studies and physical education/coaching.”

Diggins started his teaching journey at Detroit Finney and added a master’s degree from Tennessee State University in Administration and Supervision.

In 2004, he was the athletic director at Muskegon High School, which put him in the role of supporting current Ferris State football coach Tony Annese as the Big Reds took their first MHSAA championship in 15 years.

“My mother became ill during that time, and I moved back across the state to help care for her,” Diggins said. “My education experiences since then have been in K-12 instruction.”

Michigan and many states suffer from inadequate numbers of those willing to oversee athletic contests and uphold the rules of play.

“I have refereed football and basketball since I stepped away from coaching roles,” Diggins said. “I know firsthand about the shortage of officials, so I sought to establish classes on officiating for our students. I guess you could call me the ‘founding father’ of the student referee program in the Detroit Public Schools. It has been a joy to train these young people and several of them are now certified to work games themselves.”

Diggins said another learning ground for athletes and budding officials came about a few years ago, at the request of Sarah Jardie, the Special Olympics Coordinator at his building.

“She heard about ‘unified basketball’ programs in the suburbs and asked for my help to bring it to East English Village Prep,” he said. “My only stipulation was that we have our games during the school day.”

With students in the refereeing course watching the play, athletes from the school compete with special needs students in what Diggins calls a “60/40 split with their ‘partners,’ which gives teams a full and unique character.”

“Our athletes are very understanding about what this chance to compete means to their partner teammates,” Diggins said. “Their personal growth in terms of inclusiveness, understanding and tolerance really shows itself over the course of a season. Also, our refereeing students take shifts working unified basketball games in the regular season at Finney and we have a PSL championship game, at the complex shared by Wayne State University and the Detroit Pistons.”

Encouraging students in their high school endeavors is just one facet of Diggins’ support of their academic journey.

“With my background at Ferris, being able to work with at-risk students, I hear from people who want to send their youngster to college, and I am happy to tell them what Ferris was able to do for me,” he said. “I was the first person in my immediate family to graduate from a four-year school and am proud my niece Jaylynn also graduated from Ferris in 2020.

“I have sent as many as 100 students into collegiate studies, around 25 of them have graduated from their schools. I check up on them, trying to offer encouragement and helping them understand earning a two-year or four-year degree is an important accomplishment.”

Diggins is also thankful for opportunities to gather his own family and be with Ferris friends from his time as an athlete and member of the Detroit Alumni chapter of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.

“One son, Keir Thomas is completing an Art Education degree at Michigan State and Kamren Bryant is a freshman defensive lineman at Valparaiso, in Indiana,” Diggins said. “My wife Tracie makes everyone of Kamren’s games and when my referee schedule allows, I go to see the Beacons play. When I am at those games, my ‘referee’s eye’ kicks in and it is another lens for me to view the action.

“I am so grateful for my Ferris experience and the friends I have enjoyed since my time on campus, whether it is in a group chat with Jeff Schmitz, Bill Love, Jeff Carmody, Eric Woodhouse or Arthur Kelly, or working up a pickleball match with former teammates. I love to travel and enjoy their company any time we can.”