Jawaan Holmes is headed into his ninth year of coaching and fourth as an assistant men's basketball coach at Florida Tech in 2023-24.
In 2022-23, Holmes helped lead the Panthers to a 19-11 overall record and finished fourth in the SSC with an 11-9 record. Tech made the SSC semifinals after defeating PBA at the Clemente Center. In the Semifinals, the Panthers forced No.1 Nova Southeastern to overtime but ultimately fell in overtime.
Florida Tech had two players rank in the top 8 of the conference in scoring (Sean Houpt, 21.0 ppg-2nd; Sesan Russell, 18.9 ppg-7th). Niall Harris ranked 6th in the SSC in rebounding at 7.4 ppg, while Mekhii Noble’s 6.7 rebounds per game ranked him 8th. Noble was also ranked 5th in the SSC in field goal percentage (.573). Houpt was fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.357) and 2nd in three-point field goals per game (3.3). Russell led the SSC in assists per game with 7. Elias Martin’s 1.4 blocks per game were 2nd best in the SSC.
The Panthers had three different players earn SSC weekly honors during the season. Martin was named Defensive Player of the Week, Russell was named player of the week and Houpt earned two Player of the Week awards. Two Panthers earned All-SSC honors, Houpt and Russell were named to the second team. Houpt also earned D2CCA All-South Region honors. Harris and Houpt were both named CSC Academic All-District team members.
The Panthers went 13-13 in the 2021-22 season. Florida Tech had four players who averaged double-figures in points per game, Mekhii Noble (15.7 ppg, 11.6 reb), Sesan Russell (14.6 ppg, 5.6 ast), Sean Houpt (14.2 ppg) and Runako Ziegler (14.2 ppg).
In his first year, Holmes helped lead a stifling second-ranked Panther defense to a third-place finish in the SSC standings and an appearance in the SSC Tournament semifinals.
A native of Shepherdstown, West Virginia, Holmes was multi-sport high school star earning all district, all region, and all state honors in both basketball and baseball. He was voted player of the year in baseball in 2003 as a pitcher posting a 1.65 era and .147 opposing batting average as well as averaging 16 points per game in basketball. He eventually turned down multiple basketball scholarship offers to continue his baseball career at Fairmont State University where he earned Academic-All Conference, Pitcher of the week, and honorable mention all conference honors in the WVIAC (now MEC).
After graduating cum laude from Fairmont with a business degree, Holmes played basketball professionally with the Georgia Prowl before starting his coaching career at the professional level for the Winchester Storm where he coached the likes of 2005 NCAA Tournament star Kevin Pittsnogle (WVU) and 2007 final four participant Tyler Crawford (Georgetown University).
Prior to joining the Florida Tech staff, Holmes was the head coach at Cocoa Beach High School. In his first season at Cocoa Beach, he helped turn the program around and lead the Minutemen to their first double-digit win season since 2011. Following that season, Holmes finished second in the Space Coast Conference Coach of the Year voting.
