I Am Building A Program Not Just a Team

Donald Holmes, like most African-American men in Memphis has always loved basketball. Holmes is the coach of the Northside High School Lady Cougars basketball team and has been the Memphis Coach of the Year nine times. Last year the Lady Cougars were runner-ups in the Tennessee state basketball championship.

But Holmes’ first love has always been golf – the sport his father got him started in when few African-Americans played the game. He attended Mississippi Valley State University and played on the golf team there.

A two-time All-American golfer, Holmes once shook up the Mississippi golf world, forcing the state’s intercollegiate golf championship to be moved from a private to a public course to allow an African-American to play. Holmes went on to win the tournament.

After several years of trying to make a living as a golf professional, Holmes in 1987 accepted the position as the girls basketball coach at Northside High School. The program Holmes took over was not good. In his first year, Holmes’ team finished with 15 wins and 15 losses. Since then Holmes’ teams have won 20 or more games for 19 straight years.

Holmes is more proud of the success his players have had in the classroom than the games they have won. Almost all of his current team are honor roll students. The starting five players on the team have an average grade point of 4.0. Jasmine Rayner, the number one student in senior class at Northside High, is a star player for the Lady Cougars.

“Northside players know that school comes first with coach Holmes,” said Rayner.

Over the years, Lady Cougars have received scholarships from colleges across the country. Holmes’ office has photographs and posters from colleges such as The University of Memphis, Ole Miss, Jackson State, Xavier, Alabama Birmingham, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Colorado and Mississippi Valley. His players have received scholarships from all of these and more. Many of his former players are now coaches and teachers at schools throughout the region.

Northside Lady Cougars coach Donald Holmes is more proud of the success his players have had in the classroom than the games they have won. (Photos by Jesse F. McClure)

“I am building a program, not just a team,” says Holmes. “(A program) helps team members become strong women, not just basketball players.”

Strong women help create strong families and strong communities is the way Holmes sees it. He loves coaching girls because they are often more receptive to coaching than boys, he says.

Each summer Holmes’ has a basketball camp. Thousands of youngsters have attended over the years. NBA star and Memphis legend Penny Hardaway has been a big supporter of Holmes’ efforts. Last summer WNBA star Ashley Shields took part in the camp.

Holmes credits his mother, who is a minister, and his father for helping him develop his passion for helping others.

Copyright Tri-State Defender 2008