Durango High School has its fourth football head coach in four seasons. Hunter Holmes plans to stop that year-over-year head coaching turnover.
Holmes was hired as the next head coach for the Durango High School football program on May 16. Holmes was Durango’s special teams coordinator last season and replaces Ryan Woolverton, who stepped up to be the interim head coach for last season before stepping away from coaching.
“It's a dream come true,” Holmes said. “It's for sure one of the better 4A programs in the state and it's an awesome opportunity to get to lead the program.”
Holmes, 31, played football at Highland Park High School in Dallas and went to Arkansas State from 2013-2015 to punt for the football team. After his playing days, Holmes immediately jumped into college coaching.
He started at FCS Incarnate Word in San Antonio as a special teams assistant and then moved to Division I’s University of Louisiana Monroe from 2018-2021. He was a special teams assistant there before being promoted to director of recruiting and player personnel. After COVID-19, Holmes spent a year as an assistant at Division I Texas Tech University.
The new Durango head coach learned a lot from his college stops and the different head coaches he worked under. Holmes learned a lot from former Incarnate Word head coach Larry Kennan and former Louisiana Monroe head coach Matt Viator about running practices and the proper football philosophies. Kennan was an offensive coordinator in the National Football League and Viator was an accomplished high school football coach in Louisiana, in addition to his college coaching career.
Holmes also learned a lot from former Texas Tech special teams coordinator Mark Tommerdahl, who’s one of the best special teams coaches in college football, according to Holmes, with loads of power conference experience. Holmes acknowledges he’s been blessed to be around many great college football minds and he knew he was one of the least experienced coaches at his stops, so he listened and tried to be like a fly on the wall in meetings.
“His college experience and what he's done to help kids get recruited stuck out,” Durango High School Athletic Director Ryan Knorr said. “Especially some of the Durango kids who I know he's worked with … I've seen firsthand his ability to organize detailed game plans … he brings a college lens in terms of presenting game plans, scouting and the tricky thing with that is being able to translate that to high school kids brand new to football. But I've seen him work with and communicate with all levels of kids.”
Knorr complimented Holmes’ professionalism and organization with how he helps kids visually and auditory comprehend things. Knorr was also impressed with how much Holmes wanted the job and how he sold himself to Knorr.
After Holmes’ days coaching college football, he opened up a service called GamePlan Recruiting. Holmes and a few other college coaches help navigate athletes who want to play college football through the recruiting process. He said GamePlan will help 300-400 athletes find a home in college football this year.
Holmes operates GamePlan remotely, so he and his girlfriend moved to Durango and he then started coaching with the Demons in 2022 under former head coach Todd Casebier. Holmes then moved to Glenwood Springs to be the head coach alongside his father and assistant coach Robert Holmes.
The Holmes father-son duo was fired in October 2023 in the middle of the Glenwood Springs season. The reason for the firing was a complaint from officials about Hunter, according to an article in the Aspen Daily News. Glenwood Springs was 3-4 overall when the Holmes’ were fired.
“We left the program better than we found it and I hope nothing but the best for them,” Holmes said about his time in Glenwood Springs. “They have awesome kids and coaches up there.”
Knorr knew about Holmes’ Glenwood Springs tenure and said part of the reason he’s in high school athletics is because it’s more about how someone responds to the adversity rather than the adversity itself.
He asked Holmes about how he’s grown since then and what he’d do differently. Knorr was pleased with Holmes’ response and his maturity with his perspective. He said Holmes turned a negative experience into a positive one for his career with how he’ll make his professional decisions moving forward. Knorr said if he wasn’t comfortable with Holmes’ response to that question, then they wouldn’t have moved forward.
Another reason Holmes was a good fit to lead the Demons was because of his long-term commitment to the program. In 2025, Durango will have its fourth head coach in four seasons. Holmes wants to break that streak and so does Knorr. As the Durango athletic director, Knorr wants to give his students consistency.
“I plan for this to be my last football job,” Holmes said. “Hopefully, that's not ending anytime soon. What I told the kids is, luckily enough, I didn't have to go through all these changes. But when I played at Arkansas State, two classes before me, they were the only class in college football history to have five head coaches in five years. They won the conference championship every single one of those years. I was fortunate enough to be there for three of those years. But I was also fortunate enough for Coach Blake Anderson to stay and not leave.”
Holmes wants Durango to be a player-run program. Self-described as laid back and genuine, Holmes wants his team to have fun winning while establishing the culture they want to build.
The 31-year-old Demons head coach will have one of the most experienced and best football minds in the nation as a coordinator to help Holmes in his first year. Rocky Long will serve as the defensive coordinator for the Demons.
Long, 75, has a long and impressive coaching career. He was a defensive coach at some top Division I schools in the 1980s and 1990s, including Texas Christian University, UCLA, Wyoming and Oregon State.
The New Mexico graduate returned to the Lobos to be the head coach in 1998. He was there until 2008 and became the winningest head coach in Mountain West Conference history and in New Mexico history.
Long then moved on to San Diego State to be the head coach from 2011-2019. He had four 10-win seasons and San Diego State went to nine consecutive bowl games. Long then moved on to be the defensive coordinator at New Mexico from 2020-2022 and in 2023, he was at Syracuse University, a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, as the defensive coordinator.
Throughout his coaching career, Long and his wife, Debby, spent time in Durango and retired in Durango after the Syracuse job in 2023. Long helped out as an analyst at Fort Lewis College last season.
“He’s a game changer,” Holmes said about Long. “Not only leading the defense but just being able to ask him, 'Hey, what do you think of practice today,’ or anything like that. Before I got the job, I had a three-hour meeting with him and ended up being a better football coach just getting to talk to him for a couple of hours. It's a blessing.”
Long and Knorr were connected during Durango’s search for a head coach. Long was interested in having an impact on high school football players while also mentoring a young head coach.
Holmes, Long and the rest of the Durango football staff will return some talented pieces, including a loaded receiving room, but will have to replace quarterback Cully Feeney.
“With the pieces coming back, it's built up to have a great year,” Holmes said. “We're going to have a good year.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
