J.R. Holmes of Bloomington South and Chris Huppenthal of Hamilton Southeastern have been chosen as Indiana’s nominees for the National Federation of State High School Associations national basketball coaches of the year.
Holmes guided the Bloomington South boys to a 24-4 season that included championships in Conference Indiana and the Columbus North Sectional. In addition, Holmes became Indiana’s all-time winningest coach with 810 career victories. He is just the second coach in Indiana high school basketball history to surpass 800 victories.
In 49 seasons as a boys’ varsity coach, Holmes has an 810-339 record with 17 conference championships, 20 sectional trophies, seven regional crowns, two semi-state titles and Class 4A state championships in 2009 and 2011. The Panthers have been a “final four” team five times and an “elite eight” squad nine times during Holmes’ 37 seasons at the school.
Holmes’ overall numbers include a 30-14 mark in two seasons at Tunnelton (1970-72), a 113-104 slate in 10 seasons at Mitchell (1972-82) and a 667-221 ledger in his time at Bloomington South (1982-present). Remarkably, his Panthers have amassed 20 or more victories in a season on 15 occasions, including the past five seasons. His teams have captured the past four Conference Indiana championships and own a current 25-game CI winning streak.
Holmes is a 1965 graduate of Needmore High School, where he earned 16 varsity letters in four sports. He averaged 15 points as a junior on Needmore’s only sectional champion in basketball and the Hilltoppers went 43-6 in his final two seasons as a player. He went to Indiana State, lettered one season in basketball for the Sycamores and graduated in 1969. He spent one season as an ISU graduate assistant coach before becoming a high school coach at Tunnelton.
Holmes has coached nine players – including his son Jonathan – who were chosen to the Indiana All-Star team, and he was the Indiana All-Star team coach in 2001. He was named IBCA District 5 Coach of the Year in 1999 and an IBCA District 3 Coach of the Year in 2008 and 2019. He has earned numerous local and conference Coach of the Year honors, and he was named USA Today’s National Coach of the Year in 2009.
Among his former assistant coaches who have become head coaches are Criss Beyers (Bloomington South girls, Martinsville boys, Warren Central boys), Donovan Garletts (Marquette Catholic boys), Joe Granecki (Jennings County girls), Heath Howington (North Posey boys), Matt Seifers (Mitchell boys, Southport girls, Bedford North Lawrence boys), Kyle Simpson (Southport boys) and Larry Winters (Bloomington South girls).
Holmes was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
He and his wife, Martha, have two children – Jonathan and Meredith. Jonathan played basketball at North Carolina and now is the associate head coach at William & Mary. Meredith played tennis at Virginia Tech and now is an aerospace engineer in Albuquerque, N.M.
Huppenthal is honored after leading the Hamilton Southeastern girls to a 27-1 season that included Hoosier Crossroads Conference, Hamilton Southeastern Sectional, Kokomo Regional, LaPorte Semi-State and Class 4A state championships.
Huppenthal is 424-114 in 23 seasons as a girls’ basketball varsity coach, including a 249-76 mark in 14 seasons with the Royals. He previously was the head coach at Highland for eight seasons and Kokomo for one year. Overall, his teams have won eight sectionals, seven regionals, one semi-state and one state crown.
Huppenthal is a 1984 graduate of Highland High School, where he competed in football, baseball and wrestling. He attended Ball State, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in math education in 1989.
His first coaching position came at his alma mater, where he guided the Highland girls’ JV team for two seasons. He became the Trojans’ varsity coach in the fall of 1995 and directed the team to a 156-32 record over eight seasons with sectional and regional titles in 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2003. Huppenthal moved to Kokomo as an assistant coach for one year and was the Kokomo head coach in 2004-05, leading the Lady Kats to a 19-6 mark that included sectional and regional crowns.
He then moved to Hamilton Southeastern, where the Royals won sectionals in 2006 and 2007 as well as a regional in 2006 prior to their 2019 postseason run. HSE also has captured HCC titles in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018 and 2019. His Highland teams won Lake Conference crowns in 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2003.
Huppenthal was an IBCA District 1 Coach of the Year in 2001 and an IBCA District 2 Coach of the Year in 2006 and 2019. He also was the ICGSA District 3 Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2012. He was voted a conference Coach of the Year seven times at Highland (1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003) and six times at HSE (2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2019).
Huppenthal has been a geometry and business math teacher at Hamilton Southeastern for 14 years. He previously taught at Highland for 13 years and Kokomo for two years.
He and his wife, Suzan, have two children – Kalee, 21, and Cody, 19.
