He moved to Chapel Hill in 1939 to pursue a university education, but dropped out due to ill health and took up various jobs.

He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1942 and fought in World War II as a bomber pilot.

Over the course of his legislative career he advocated for the disabled and opposed liquor, pornography, and coed dormitories on state university campuses.

The division brought about frequent clashing between Coggins—who had an abrasive, uncompromising style and supported further development in Raleigh—and members of the council.

When Coggins was thirteen years old his father died, and he moved to Statesville to work on a farm, sending a portion of his income back to his family to support it.

Seeking to become an aviator, he undertook training courses in Chapel Hill; Anacostia, Maryland; and Pensacola, Florida, and was commissioned as a lieutenant on August 17.

He completed his operational flight training on November 6 and was subsequently sent to San Diego to join American forces moving out for deployment in World War II.

[5] Coggins served as a bomber pilot and fought in the South Pacific,[3] earning ten military awards, including two Distinguished Flying Crosses.

Coggins was a Presbyterian Christian, and was a member of a masonic lodge, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the American Legion, and the Raleigh Civitan Club.

[6] His construction company completed projects across the southeastern United States, including development at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and the erection of Beckanna Apartments, an eight-story, 250-unit housing complex on Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh which he named for two of his daughters.

Believing that U.S. Route 70 would become an important channel of commercial activity between Raleigh and Durham, he began to purchase land along the highway, eventually amassing over 250 acres.

He leased some of the land in the area and oversaw a significant amount of real estate development along the road, sometimes provoking the ire of local residents.

[3] He also founded the Lyon Equipment Company and Dob's, Inc.[1][2] Coggins frequently attended to his business, and he had little spare time to interact with friends and family or engage in leisurely activities.

[2] Over the course of his time in the legislature, he advocated for the disabled and opposed liquor, pornography, and coed dormitories on state university campuses.

[6] In 1971 he introduced a bill that would prohibit students from visiting opposite sex dormitories on state university campuses, but it was defeated in committee.

[9] In the 1970s citizens of Raleigh became increasingly concerned about the city's rapid population growth and the consequences of unchecked real estate development.

These people formed civic and neighborhood associations which unified as a collective political bloc, the Community Coalition, that supported a more managed process for dealing with Raleigh's expansion.

[13] Coggins faced City Councilman J. Oliver Williams in the November 4 election,[11] who had the support of the Community Coalition.

The division brought about frequent clashing between Coggins—who had an abrasive, uncompromising style and supported further development in Raleigh—and members of the council.

[17] The disagreement emerged during the City Council's first meeting in December when Coggins called for a vote on the reelection of a returning member as mayor pro tempore.

[19] The frequent disagreement between Coggins and the council greatly contributed to the eventual resignation of one city councilman and the decision of two others to not seek reelection.

[17] While mayor, he also defeated a strike undertaken by black sanitation workers attempting to unionize[17] and established a committee to examine the city's housing inspections department.

[24] Some observers believed that Coggins attacked the coalition instead of Cannon directly because he was hesitant to speak poorly of an elderly woman.

[17] Coggins won only 15 of Raleigh's 43 precincts, performing best in the wealthier neighborhood constituencies as well as the working-class areas of the eastern part of the city.

G. Wesley Williams, director of the Raleigh Merchants Bureau, believed that Coggins "blew it" by repeatably delivering "vitriolic statements" throughout his tenure.