He was 2 points away from a state title. Why this football coach is leaving Columbus area

He led his team to the precipice of a state championship last year. Now, this Columbus area head football coach has taken a job in a neighboring county at a high school playing in a higher classification and coming off a winless season.

Stephen Holmes confirmed to the Ledger-Enquirer he is leaving the Manchester Blue Devils to be the new head football coach of the Pike County Pirates.

Manchester went 4-7 in 2020 before Holmes took over the program. Then the Blue Devils went 7-5 and reached the state quarterfinals in 2021. They went 7-4 and reached the second round in 2022. And they went 11-3 and lost by one point to Bowdon in the 2023 Class A Division II state championship game.

Class AAA Pike County went 0-10 in 2023 under the retired Bryan Holley. The Pirates haven’t had a winning season or reached the state playoffs since 2018.

So, although the two schools are only 30 miles away from each other, Holmes is moving up in level of competition and challenge, but he won’t have to move from his home because he already lives in Pike County — and this allows him to coach at the school his daughter will attend.

Holmes said he wasn’t looking to leave Manchester, but he was compelled to accept the offer from Pike County athletics director Paul Moon.

“There’s new administrative leadership in Pike County that wants football and athletics to be successful, to go hand in hand with the great academic environment they have in place,” Holmes said. “… I live here, my church is here, my family is here (in Pike County).”

Holmes gushed praised for his time at Manchester.

“We poured a lot of time and energy into Manchester, and I was not looking to leave,” he said. “There was nothing that made me want to leave. That’s a great place to coach and work, a great community. But this opportunity presented itself, and I looked at it from the football side of things and the family side of things, and those two came together. I’m leaving a great coaching staff in Manchester, so I feel like it’s going to be in good hands.”

Manchester announced on its Facebook page that assistant coach Demonta Prather will be the interim head coach. The school also posted the following statement about Holmes, although it didn’t say where he was going:

“We would like to extend our gratitude to Coach Holmes for his dedication and hard work. We are very appreciative of his long-standing commitment to the students at Manchester High School, and for the success he brought to our football program. We would also like to congratulate Coach Holmes on his new opportunity and wish him the best of luck in all his future endeavors.”

Holmes is grateful Manchester gave him his first head coaching job after being an assistant at Sandy Creek.

“It was a collective effort by a whole lot of people committed to doing things the right way,” he said. “To be a part of that, it was just a special feeling. I’ll have a lot of great memories when the time comes to look back.”

Part of him feels like he’s leaving some unfinished business, being so close to a state championship with Manchester.

“Absolutely,” he said. “That’s the tough part. You’re leaving people you built a strong relationship with, people you were in the fight and the fire with.”

Now, however, he wants to lead Pike County to such a competitive level.

“There’s a big hunger in the community to be successful,” he said, “and there’s a big investment being made facility-wise and all the things you need, the support, to be successful.”

Holmes’ last day at Manchester will be Feb. 1, he said, and his first day at Pike County will be Feb. 2.

Moon told the Ledger-Enquirer that Holmes, who was an assistant coach at Pike from 2015-17, was selected out of nearly 40 applicants.

“Coach Holmes is a community guy,” Moon said. “He’s lived here. A lot of people in the community know him and hold him in high regard already. That obviously made a big difference because we’re looking for someone to build the program.

“So he already had roots here, and obviously the success he’s had speaks for itself. The way he runs a program and focuses on the kids is important, not just the stars, but he cares about everybody on his team. That’s important to us because we’re building men, not just football players.”

Moon also likes the plan Holmes presented to build the program.

“He has a strategy to make strong bonds from rec (football) to middle school to high school,” Moon said. “That was very impressive.”