From The Court To Coaching Success Has Followed
By Mike Ready
LONG BRANCH – Two of the most successful basketball programs in Shore Conference history are the Lakewood boys and Saint John Vianney girls basketball programs.
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Both programs are blessed to have coaches that starred at their schools, went on to have successful college careers and knew exactly what they wanted to do upon graduation; coach basketball.
Randy Holmes is a 1991 graduate of Lakewood High School. As a senior he was selected first team All-State, All-Shore and All-Groups when he averaged 29.6 points per game, 8 assists and 6 rebounds. He ranks second on Lakewood’s all-time scoring list with 1936 points, just behind Jack Arden who is Lakewood’s only 2000-point scorer. Right behind him on that list is his cousin and current assistant coach Tim Brown with 1800 points.
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As a senior, he led his team to the Shore Conference Tournament championship and advanced to the South Jersey Group III final before bowing to Woodrow Wilson High School. Last season’s SCT championship was the school’s first since 1991, his senior year.
Upon graduation from Lakewood, Holmes moved on to play ball at St. Peter’s College (now St. Peter’s University) where after scoring over 1100-career points was elected into the St. Peters Hall of Fame.
As a senior in 1995, he was selected second team All-MAC and second team All-Metro after averaging 14.8 points a game and shooting an amazing 93 percent from the free-throw line. That team won the MAC Tournament, where he was voted the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. With the win, they advanced to the NCAA Tournament where they lost in the first round to former New York Knick Marcus Camby’s UMASS team. In the losing effort, Holmes scored 15 points for the Peacocks.
Shortly after graduating, Coach John Brown gave Holmes his first coaching job at Henry Hudson Middle School. After a short stint there, Holmes wanted to coach in Lakewood and found the opportunity at Lakewood Middle School.
In 1997, Lakewood head coach John Richarson, Holmes’high school coach, offered him an assistant coach position that Holmes held until Richardson retired after the 2006-07 season. Holmes was appointed head coach the following season and his dream job became a reality.
This season marks Holmes seventh season at the helm and already he has made quite a name for himself. He holds a 127-40 career won-lost record at Lakewood averaging 21 wins per season. His teams have won three state sectional titles, one Shore Conference Tournament championship and five straight Class B South division titles.
“I use coaching as an extension of the classroom,” Holmes said. “I feel I can make a difference in these young men’s lives. I get pleasure out of watching a young kid come in as a freshman and leave as a man. I try to instill values and work on character.”
“The X’s and O’s are the easy part,” Holmes added. “It’s the challenge of molding these kids into men that’s important to me. I try to be a positive role model and practice what I preach. It’s nice to win as a coach, but the bigger picture is how can I prepare these young men to go out into the real world, be successful and to be able to deal with adversity; that’s what it’s all about.
Randy is a life-long resident of Lakewood and he and wife Erica have three children, Jazzman 20, Zoe 11 and Randy 6-years old. He is a special education teacher at Lakewood High School and is currently pursuing his masters degree. When he retires from coaching, he’d like to work as a principal or athletic director, preferably at Lakewood High School.
Saint John Vianney girls basketball coach Dawn Karpell is a 1995 graduate of the Holmdel school where she led the Lancers to four-straight Tournament of Champions appearances (1992-95), winning the title her sophomore and senior seasons when they were voted the No.1 team in New Jersey.
She was selected first team All-Shore, won two Most Valuable Player awards and scored over 1100 points for her career at Saint John Vianney.
Karpell is a graduate of Sacred University in Fairfield CT. where as a senior she was captain and won the Most Valuable Player award.
A year after graduating from Sacred Heart, Karpell coached at Keansburg High School for a season before she accepted the head coaching job at Holmdel High School. While at Holmdel, Karpell won the school’s second sectional title in school history and first since 1988. She played a huge part in turning Holmdel around and putting them on the map as a perennial Shore Conference top ten program.
In the 2006-07 season, Karpell returned to her roots and became the Saint John Vianney head coach. In her second season there, she won the Non-Public Group A title, losing in the semifinals of the Tournament of Champions to No.2 seed Shabazz.
The following season, her third at Saint John Vianney, her team won the Tournament of Champions and was voted the No.1 team in New Jersey. Altogether, Karpell’s teams have appeared in the Non-Public A South sectional title game 5 out of 7 years (winning four), four straight Non-Public A finals (winning all four), and four trips to the Tournament of Champions (winning once).
Her teams have also won six Class A Central division titles in seven years in probably the toughest division in the Shore Conference. The one elusive title she has yet to capture is Shore Conference Tournament championship.
“I love developing talent as a coach,” Karpell said. “Seeing players come in as freshmen and then as seniors seeing how much they’ve grown and matured, not only as players but as a person. I love helping players move on to play the next level whether it’s DI, DII, DIII or junior college. If they want to continue with their education and keep playing basketball, I’ll help them get there.”
