Looking back on Reid Holmes, now retired head baseball coach, assistant athletic director, and teacher at Southwest Guilford High School…A former Western Guilford HS student back in his younger days, and son of Jim Holmes, brother of Michael Holmes, and there are several other Holmes in the Holmes’ house, and not sure if Sherlock is still out there somewhere, but you never know…Reid on his way over to work with Coach Phil Weaver and Coach Mac Morris, there at the North Carolina Coaches Association office, near Grimsley High School…Good man, Reid Holmes, and good work here, from Michael Lindsay, there at the HP Enterprise…Best of Luck to Coach Holmes in his retirement…He is a good man, who grew up doing things the hard way, and therefore he got them done, The Right Way…Read On Below…
from Michael Lindsay, with the High Point Enterprise, CLICK HERE
HIGH POINT — Reid Holmes wasn’t all that familiar with Southwest Guilford when he arrived at the school. Thirty years later, he leaves a lasting impact.
Holmes — the Cowboys’ longtime baseball coach, who finishes his career with the second-most wins in Guilford County history, and assistant athletic director — is reaching the end of his career at the school in the coming days.
He will retire from coaching and teaching and take on a new job at the North Carolina Coaches Association in Greensboro.
“I could not have envisioned being at any better of a place,” Holmes said Tuesday afternoon, sitting in the dugout at Southwest. “From the administrators to certainly one of my best friends, Brindon Christman, being my athletic director. I think he’s the best around. It’s just been a wonderful place. I could not have envisioned being anywhere that would have been a better fit.”
Holmes came to Southwest in the summer of 1996. He graduated from Western Guilford, studied at UNC Charlotte and afterward worked a variety of jobs back home in Greensboro for a couple years.
Meanwhile, he caught the coaching bug while helping out at Western Guilford for two years. He later landed a job at Southwest, teaching English. He didn’t know much about the school, but his mother taught at Florence Elementary.
In the early years, she asked to see his class rosters to give him the scouting report on who was in his classes.
“I taught students that my mom taught,” Holmes said. “There was a little bit of that over the course of a few years. My mom stopped teaching right around 2002, maybe. So, there was a period of several years that her students were coming through, and that was cool.”
Holmes coached varsity football as an assistant for five years under Richard Kemp and Al Hooker and JV boys basketball for three years under varsity coach Robert Kent. He also coached baseball as an assistant on Mike Herndon’s staff.
That spring the Cowboys caught a spark at the end of the season, made a playoff run and won the program’s lone state championship — beating Cherryville in the 2A championship series in Burlington.
The memories are fresh as ever.
“We lost game one, and we came back and we won the next two,” said Holmes, also recalling a key defensive play to end a rally at Manteo in the regional. “It was quite an experience. A lot of good memories with that team.
“I don’t want to say I was spoiled because I was, you know,” he said with a smile. “I’ve always just tried to be appreciative of the day and just be thankful. And I never took anything for granted.”
Holmes, after a couple years under Chris Cook, took the head job in 2000 and led Southwest back to the regional series against Fuquay-Varina. And over the years, the Cowboys have consistently been among the best in the area.
Countless conference titles followed — including this year’s Metro 6A/7A tournament championship — as did playoff runs. Dozens of players went on to play in college, and several had opportunities to play professionally.
Holmes finished his career with 456 wins — just five behind rival coach and friend Donnie Maness, the longtime coach at Ragsdale. The two have been jockeying for the county’s top spot since both passing Sandy Gann in 2024.
Alongside longtime assistant coaches John Gann and Ken Morgan, plus familiar faces Rob Shore and Andy Harper during stints, Holmes and the Cowboys became pillars of the baseball community in the area.
“When they presented the opportunity to me in 1999, I kind of jumped at the chance,” he said. “I was super excited to get a chance to lead my own program. I’ve tried to always make this program about the players.
“I’m certainly a believer player-led teams are better than coach-led teams. I’ve tried to instill that in our players. I wanted them to take ownership. Certainly, it’s the coach’s responsibility to steer them in the right direction.
“But I couldn’t have asked for a better group of young men and certainly parents as well. I’ve never wanted for anything.”
Holmes has also been an integral part of the athletic department — for many years as assistant AD to longtime AD Brindon Christman — doing everything from taking tickets at volleyball matches to helping out at football games.
The next stop won’t be too far — the NCCA’s office is adjacent to Grimsley’s campus. Holmes has been working with the NCCA for many years, going back to hosting football practices at Southwest for the East-West Games.
The relationship continued to thrive and grow. And as some of the previous generation of coaches who’ve made similar moves look to fully enjoy their retirement, Holmes became a natural fit to step in.
“They asked me what my plan was,” he said. “I wasn’t pressured by any stretch, but they just wanted to know. So I made the decision last year that this year would be it for me.
“I’m going to miss so much about it. I’m going to miss the relationships that have been built and fostered over the last 30 years. But I’m looking forward to a new challenge, a new chapter.
“It’s bittersweet. When you leave somewhere that you put your heart and soul into for the last 30 years. And just not seeing the people that you’re accustomed to seeing on a daily basis, that’s one thing I’m going to miss more than anything.
“But like I said, it’s been a wonderful place. And I couldn’t envision it being any better of a place than what I’ve experienced.”
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Norma Dennis article from the YES! Weekly on April 19, 2023…CLICK HERE for full article and the Photos….
Coach considers wins secondary to relationships
Reid Holmes knew his career wins as head coach of the Southwest Guilford High School baseball team was pushing 400 from reports that coaches had to give Brindon Christman, the school’s athletic director, at the end of the 2022 season. But it was not something he was thinking about as the 2023 season progressed.
“I had forgotten my record, and did not realize a win on March 14 would put me at 400,” Holmes said. “But my assistant coach John Gann had been tracking my wins because his father Sandy Gann (retired Northwest Guilford coach) had been the only Guilford County baseball coach to previously accomplish that record.”
It was not until after the 9-0 win against Western Guilford, Holmes’ high school alma mater, when his assistant coach and the athletic director congratulated him on the special win, that Holmes realized he had hit that mark.
“I have to give credit to all the good players and coaches I have worked along side of over the years,” Holmes said. “I am just the common denominator.”
Although Holmes was the second Guilford County coach to reach the 400-win milestone, approximately a week later Donnie Maness, head baseball coach at Ragsdale achieved the same feat. Looking at the backstory of the two coaches might very well produce feelings of déjà vu.
Holmes graduated from Western Guilford in 1988 where he played basketball and baseball, and from the University of North Carolina – Charlotte in 1992.
Holmes did not play in college, but his dad, Jim, played at Elon College. Jim also officiated high school football and basketball and at two State Championship games. Unfortunately he passed away on March 14, 2022, exactly one year before Holmes’ big win.
His older brother played baseball in high school and his younger brother played in high school and at Wake Forest University before being drafted to a minor league baseball team. He is now scouting director for the San Francisco Giants.
“I think coming from a sports family led to my love of sports,” Holmes said.
Following college, Holmes was not certified to teach, but began working as head jayvee basketball coach and assistant baseball coach at Western while he worked on his teaching certificate.
In 1996 he was hired at Southwest Guilford as a 9th grade English teacher. His mother taught at Florence Elementary and Holmes found himself teaching students in high school that she had taught in elementary.
He was also hired as assistant baseball coach and jayvee basketball coach at Southwest. On the first workday, the head football coach asked him to help coach football and he worked with all three sports for three years. In 2000, he became head baseball coach and had to give up basketball because the seasons overlapped. But he continued to coach football for two more seasons.
“Teaching that first year and coaching three sports was hard, but also good,” Holmes said.
In addition to his other responsibilities, Holmes has also assisted the athletic director who joined the school the same year Holmes became head baseball coach.
“I had no dream of becoming the head baseball coach when I started teaching, but my allegiance shifted to baseball after I did,” Holmes said.
“The first season I worked with the baseball team as assistant coach, we won the 2A State Championship. I think that spoiled me because we have not done that since. But we have gotten to Regional finals.”
Each year Holmes has the team set four or five goals and winning a State Championship is one of them.
“We cannot set our goals any lower, but I let the team know that if we do not get State, it does not mean our season was not a success. Looking ahead, we just try to be the best team we can be.”
“I was told that Fox8 was going to interview me,” Holmes said. “We played a doubleheader that night and after the jayvee game I was preparing the field for the varsity game and saw a lot of family members and former players trickling into the stadium. I asked one of the players why he was there and he said, ‘For you.’ I knew something was up, but all John told me was that there was going to be a surprise.”
As former players joined Holmes on the field, Christman presented him with a framed green jersey sporting a large 400.
“I was humbled by it,” Holmes said. “I want to thank my athletic director, for his support and friendship, all the assistant coaches I have had who have been a big part of all the wins, the great school administrators and the parents who have supported the baseball program. Most of all, I thank my wife Kristy. No coach can do what he or she does without the support of their spouse.
“The game has never been about me, but about the players,” Holmes added. My players have had as much impact on me as I have on them.
“I take being a role model seriously. As coaches we want to develop students who will become better people – better men, husbands and fathers. Athletics can teach so many lessons besides winning.”
Holmes is proud of all his wins, but mostly he is proud of the relationships he has made with the players through the years.
“It is when you get invited to their weddings and receive Christmas cards from them that you realize the impact you have made.”