Leaving quite a legacy

When the Marina High boys’ varsity basketball team plays its final game of the season in late-February, it will be the last time the Vikings will be led by Roger Holmes. The dean of Sunset League coaches, Holmes announced last week that he will step down as head coach at the conclusion of the season.

Holmes — who took pride in creating a family atmosphere within his program — decided it was time to step aside after discussing the matter with his immediate family: wife Debbie, son Brendan, a former Marina ball boy who is in his final year of a four-year varsity career, and daughter Kayla.

“The decision to step down as head coach was a tough one, but at the same time, an easy one,” said Holmes, who recently turned 50. “The years really do go by too quickly and it seems as though it was yesterday that we started on this journey at Marina.

“Brendan’s playing will last four more years and I wanted to be able to attend as many (of his) games as possible. The incredible time consumption of coaching would make that impossible. I also want to be free to support whatever activity that my daughter will be involved with as she begins high school.”

Two years ago, Holmes took a brief sabbatical from coaching during the second-half of the 2007-08 season, due to a heart ailment he said was diagnosed as a “low ejection fraction.” He later returned to the sideline.

Holmes was hired as head coach at Marina in May 1994. In his 16 years at the helm, his teams have attained several superlatives: three league championships, a couple of CIF quarterfinal appearances, two semifinal appearances and a CIF finals appearance in 2004 — the same year the Vikings made the state playoffs. He took over a Marina program that was looking for stability. At the time, Holmes said he became the school’s fourth head coach in a four-year period.

The program found the stability it sought.

“It really did,” said Andrew Meyer, who played on Holmes’ first two teams and was a varsity assistant to Holmes for 10 years.

It was Meyer, along with assistant Tom McCanna, who took over coaching duties when Holmes took his leave of absence in January 2008.

“Giving us stability was the biggest thing he did, right away. He basically gutted the program, which had always been a strong program, and turned it around. If we win, we’d win the right way. If we lost, there’d be a life-lesson there for us to learn. He wanted quality kids in the program who would give it their all, both on and off the court. I’ve always enjoyed being around him. I still catch Marina games. You’ll always find former players at his games. That’s a testament to Coach Holmes.”

Holmes said his family is “extended to all of our players.”

“We always do so much with the kids,” he said. “It may be the several summer basketball trips we do each year, or the in-season trips that we do, but we have always had a group of 20, instead of just us four.”

Some of the summer trips included excursions to San Francisco, Lake Tahoe and Phoenix. In-season trips included Hawaii (three times), Disney World and Prescott, Ariz.

“If anything pulled ‘Coacher’ away from the game, I always knew it would be family,” said former Holmes player, James Lambert. “His heart problems never convinced him to give it up. That being said, I’m saying he will be back on the bench in a few years. I don’t think he’ll be able to stay away for too long. Where basketball ends and family, vacations, hobbies, anything else starts — I have no idea. Basketball is so intertwined in the Holmes family that he won’t be able to stay away.”

Lambert, who played wing, was 2002-03 Sunset League MVP, two-time All-CIF and played on the Marina team that finished runner-up to a CIF title in 2004. He went on to play Ivy League basketball at Harvard University, where he graduated in 2008.

He works in structured finance in Boston.

“Coach Holmes builds lasting relationships with his players,” Lambert said. “I’m in Boston now but I get text messages at least once a week, updating me on the team. He sends me DVDs of playoff games in the mail, invites me to Christmas parties at his house, invites my parents to the annual Tip-Off Day, and we meet up for Mexican food when I’m in town. Sometimes I feel like I’ve never left H.B.

“Similarly, the program is consistently run by its own alumni, from the freshmen team to the varsity team. I think it speaks volumes on his behalf that so many of his players come back to the program and give something back.

“There are a lot of good basketball coaches, but Coach Holmes teaches more than just basketball — personal integrity, drive and confidence in oneself.”

Three years ago, the Marina program found itself in the national spotlight.

In the 2006-07 season, Holmes implemented a new offensive scheme called “The System.” That frenetic pace — based on a lot of possessions, three-point shooting, substitutions and full-court pressure to create turnovers, an offense Holmes called at the time “controlled chaos” — changed the face of the program and record books. That season, the Vikings obliterated the prep state and national single-season records for three-point baskets by hitting 437 shots. In 2007-08, they set a record for three-pointers made (29) in a single game, breaking the old record (28) that they had set during the 06-07 season.

“The System was so good for our program,” Holmes said. “We had come off back-to-back mediocre years after going to the finals, and needed something to get us going again. The system was an equalizer for us in terms of competing against teams with a lot of talent. It assaulted the national and state record books. It energized our student rooting section and now we enjoy incredible student support at our games.”

Holmes has been in the coaching business for 31 years.

Following a standout prep career at Fountain Valley High, where he was an all-league, All-CIF and 1978 All-American Honorable Mention forward for Coach Dave Brown, Holmes — who still holds the school’s single-season scoring record and said he never played in a losing Sunset League game in four years — began coaching after suffering an injury during his freshman year at Long Beach State.

Holmes said he “went to help out” with coaching basketball at Ocean View High, and ended up taking charge of the school’s frosh “B” squad.

“I fell instantly in love with coaching and wanted to help the infant program get on the rise,” he said of his days at Ocean View.

He went on to coach all levels at Ocean View and was a varsity assistant to current Ocean View Coach Jim Harris from 1978-87. He got his first head coaching job at Santa Margarita (1988-92) and served as an assistant coach at Vanguard University (1992-94) before landing the Marina job.

Holmes and Harris have a long basketball history. Holmes said he played on the second team Harris coached, a team that went undefeated during Holmes’ freshman year at Fountain Valley.

“He and I shared the same ideals as far as demanding that players played harder than they thought possible, and we had a great working relationship at Ocean View,” he said of Harris.

The Sunset League race is a tight one. Last week, Marina handed Los Alamitos its first league loss, with Brendan Holmes leading the way with a game-high 34 points that included hitting seven three-point shots. Tuesday at Newport Harbor High, Holmes posted a game-best 23 points in an 80-58 win over the Sailors.

Marina and Los Alamitos share first-place in the league standings, each 4-1.

A shooting guard, Brendan Holmes has signed a national letter of intent with Dominican University of California in San Rafael. He averaged 21.5 points per game as a sophomore, 23.5 as a junior and is averaging 22 points this year. Last year, he was second in scoring in Orange County. He is a two-time first-team All-Sunset League selection and was named All-CIF last spring. He is second all-time in CIF in three-point shots made in a season, sixth all-time for three-point shots made in a career, and fifth all-time for three-pointers made in a single-game.

“Playing for my dad was really a great experience,” Brendan Holmes said. “My freshman year, I did hear all the chat about (me) only being on varsity since my father was the coach and stuff, but I really think that motivated me to become better and prove that I deserved to be there. Also, my dad knew he could be straight-forward with me and whenever I’d do something wrong, he wouldn’t be afraid to let me know. I think he knew exactly how to get me going whenever I’d be having an off game, or couldn’t seem to make a shot. He knew how to get me pumped and focused whenever things weren’t going so well. He truly is an amazing coach and I really wouldn’t have wanted to play for anyone else.”

Roger Holmes enters the stretch drive of his coaching career this week. On Friday, Marina begins the second half of its Sunset League schedule at Esperanza. Five more league games, then it’s playoff time.

“I will miss the day-to-day interaction with our players and coaches,” said Roger Holmes, who, despite leaving the coaching ranks, will continue as department chairman for Special Education at Valley Vista High (Continuation) School in Fountain Valley. “We have such a close-knit group that each and every day is unique and fun. Preparing our players to play at their highest level is the greatest challenge and the most rewarding outcome of coaching.

“The best part of coaching is the building of life-long relationships with your players and coaches. I have to thank the late Larry Doyle, our then-athletic director, and the principal who hired me, Jim Keating, along with Dr. Carol Osbrink who became principal during my first year. They allowed me to build a program of hard-working, class individuals without the worry of winning and losing. We were able to build our program the right way and now enjoy success with great people. My assistants and lower level coaches have been awesome and dedicated to our ideals. Dennis Cowan has been with me for all 16 years, coaching the JV team, and as a varsity assistant. My wife of 25 years, Debbie, has seen every game and has been incredibly supportive of all of the time basketball takes me away from home.”