Dave Holmquist earned his 900th career win on Nov. 24 in Chase Gymnasium when the Eagles overcame Bethesda University to improve to 9-1 on the season. Holmquist currently sits eighth among the most winningest college coaches of all time, only two behind three-time NCAA champion Bobby Knight.

Backstory

Coaching was not always the long term plan for Holmquist. After playing on the basketball team during his time at Biola, he considered changing his major to become a history professor. Instead, he took the position of assistant coach offered to him by the coach he played under. After two years of being the assistant, he took the position of head coach at Fresno Pacific University, where he worked for three years and earned 36 wins towards his now 900. At Fresno he discovered his love of coaching and returned to his alma mater as head coach.

Holmquist is currently in his 39th season as a head coach and credits his .717 winning percentage to the knowledge he has gained from friends and mentors.

“I think all coaches are influenced by a number of people,” Holmquist said. “You pick up different things from different people but there have been several people that have been most influential in my coaching career.”

Influences

Those people include current assist coach Don Johnson who played for University of California Los Angeles coach John Wooden. Not only was Johnson a resource in-and-of himself, but he also established a connection between Holmquist and Wooden which led to a forty year friendship. Other influences include Golden State Warriors Assistant Coach Ron Adams, and Dave Yanai who coached at Cal State University Dominguez Hills.

Through Holmquist’s tenure at Biola, his coaching success produced offers for coaching positions at different schools. Two offers included being an assistant coach for NCAA division one schools, as well as other head-coaching opportunities at non-division one schools. Friends who regret leaving their past coaching jobs for promotions and a love for Biola kept Holmquist with the Eagles.

“I’ve always felt like this was a great place to work, people were so supportive here,” Holmquist said. “I could work in a Christian environment, I could recruit guys on my team that I really liked being around, I haven’t had pressure to win by anybody here so it’s been a great place to work and I didn’t want to give that up lightly.”

More Opportunities

One thing heavily stressed by Holmquist is that no coach can win without great players. He views this milestone as just as much of a testament to the skill and dedication of those who played for him as it was his coaching ability.

Holmquist will have opportunities to pass more coaches on the all-time winningest college men’s basketball coach list as he continues to lead Biola, but his focus is only on the present season.

“I’ve never thought much about [milestones],” Holmquist said. “I just try to take it a day at a time in coaching, do a good job that day and work with the team that I have. I never had any goals that I’ve written down. I just wanted to do the best I could with the team I had that year.”