Bloomfield College

The 2025-2026 basketball season marks head coach Gerald Holmes’ twenty-fourth year guiding the Bloomfield College of Montclair State University Men’s Basketball program. He is the longest tenured coach at the college and his reign at the helm of the Bears has seen his teams become one of the preeminent powers in the East Region. This season will be his first in the USCAA Division I.

Considered 'The Architect' of one of the NCAA Div II East Region's top programs, Holmes cemented his legacy with his 400th career win on December 7, 2024 with a 85-66 win over Caldwell University and has compiled a, 408-262 career record while winning eight Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) tournament championships and 12 regular season first place finishes. Included within those eight tournament championships are two 3-peats (2004-2006 & 2011-2013), with the last CACC championship coming in 2020. The Bears, under Holmes' direction made 9 NCAA tournament appearances. 

In 2011, Holmes guided his team to an NCAA East Region Championship and an appearance in the coveted Elite Eight. The Bears earned the #7 seed in the tournament and knocked off the top 3 seeds to claim the regional title. To date, Bloomfield remains the only CACC team to ever win the East Region Championship. 

Holmes has been honored as the CACC Coach of the Year six times in his career, 2009, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2020 & 2023 as well as being named Coach of the Year by the Metropolitan Writers Association in 2005, 2011 & 2018. Holmes has produced the CACC Player of the Year six times, most recently in 2019 when he coached the Player and Defensive Player of the Year, Kavione Green.

Prior to being named Head Coach, Holmes spent one season as an assistant at Bloomfield College.  He came to the Bloomfield campus via New Jersey Institute of Technology, where he spent two seasons as Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach.  On the high school level, Holmes spent six years at Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ where he served as JV Head Coach and Assistant Varsity Coach. 

A resident of West Orange, NJ, he holds a B.S. degree in Engineering Science from NJIT