“You won’t hear any excuses from me or my coaching
staff…this season was what it was. Now
we have to be smart and strategic in how we move forward. So many times we were in the games and just
couldn’t get over the hump,” Holmes said.
On Sunday, Holmes became the third FAMU first-year coach to
fall to the Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU). William “Billy” Joe fell to the Wildcats
during his inaugural season in 1994, 27-24 and Rudy Hubbard lost to B-CU during
his first year in 1974, 6-0.
But the most painful part of 2013 was the 0-5 record that Holmes’
team amassed on its own home field. That was demoralizing to both the student-athletes
and fans.
“I told our seniors that I appreciated them in the part that
they played in building our program.
Even though our record doesn’t show it, we began to build a foundation
for a good program. We’ve got to have a complementary team, where the offense
complements the defense and the defense complements the special teams,” Holmes
said.
Holmes said he looks forward to recruiting new players and
hitting the training field.
“We must go out and get the right combination of talent to
be able to compete day in and day out.
It’s a challenge that we welcome.
We had an impressive crew of recruits at the game last week and some
have already committed. Once we round
out the talent, my coaches and I can go full speed ahead in preparing the guys
for a solid spring,” Holmes said.