Boys Basketball – Randy Holmes and Lakewood in Limbo Over Job Status
Randy Holmes has decided to remain the head baseball coach at Lakewood High School, as first reported by the Asbury Park Press.
After resigning as head boys basketball coach at Lakewood May 9, Holmes rescinded his resignation two days later.
According to multiple sources and also reported by the Asbury Park Press, Holmes resigned over a dispute with a member of the Lakewood administration who denied a request to run an annual camp that he holds for kids in Lakewood. According to one of the sources, Holmes had the support of Lakewood athletic director Tom Stead with regard to the camp, but both were overruled by the administration.
During this past season, Holmes acknowledged he looked at openings at other programs following the 2014-15 season before ultimately deciding to remain at Lakewood.
Holmes is a former standout at Lakewood High School, where he led the Piners to a Shore Conference Tournament championship in 1991 before going on to star at St. Peter's University. He returned to his alma mater as an assistant under his former head coach John "Pot" Richardson and took over the program at the start of the 2007-08 season.
Under Holmes's direction, Lakewood has won eight straight division title shares and this past year, the team won its sixth straight outright Shore Conference division championship. In 2013, Holmes led Lakewood to its first Shore Conference Tournament championship since that 1991 championship.
The Piners also won two NJSIAA sectional championships during Holmes's tenure - the first in 2010 in Central Jersey Group II and again in 2013 in Central Jersey Group II. Lakewood finished No. 1 in the Shore Sports Network Top 10 at the end of that landmark 2012-13 season.
This past year, Lakewood finished the season 21-7, winning the Class B South championship while reaching the quarterfinals of the Shore Conference Tournament for the fifth time in six years, as well as the semifinals of the Central Jersey Group II playoffs.