2013 Preview: Former FAMU player Earl Holmes returns to lead Rattlers

HEAD FOOTBALL COACH EARL HOLMES
FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY
(Courtesy FAMU Athletics)

ORLANDO, Florida -- There is a lot to learn for a first-time head college football head coach, and sometimes the transition from assistant coach is painstaking.

For Earl Holmes, however, he has the luxury of being quite familiar with his surroundings as Florida A&M’s new leader. He played at FAMU and he was an assistant coach for the Rattlers, serving last year as the defensive coordinator before being named interim head coach for the season-ending Florida Classic against rival Bethune-Cookman following the retirement of Joe Taylor.

But the familiarity goes far beyond that for the former NFL linebacker who played 10 years as a linebacker for the Steelers, Browns and Lions before retiring in 2005. Holmes grew up in Tallahassee, and he was an all-state linebacker at FAMU High in the early ’90s.

So the first-year head coach knows a little something about Rattler football.

“It’s been a tremendous changeover from me because I’ve already been here with these kids … in fact, I recruited more than half of these kids,” Holmes said.”

CONTINUE READING