Men's Basketball: Coaching Staff
Larry Holley has been the head men's basketball coach at William Jewell College since the 1979-80 school year. He is among America’s elite and legendary coaches, having won 775 games during his career and having received 14 Coach of the Year Awards including the prestigious Sears/NABC NAIA National Coach of the Year Award in 1996. He has also been selected to five Halls of Fame. He has been named to the Greater Kansas City Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the NAIA Hall of Fame, the William Jewell College Athletic Hall of Fame and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
Holley’s coaching background includes one year at Harrisburg, MO High School, six years at Central Methodist University and four years at Northwest Missouri State University (two as the top assistant and two as the head coach). He has guided eleven Jewell squads to HAAC Conference Titles and twelve Cardinal teams to the NAIA National Tournament with four of them reaching the Final Four, and three reaching the Elite Eight. Holley’s teams have had two winning streaks that will be hard to top: a 43-game home court winning streak and a 45-game Heart of America Athletic Conference winning streak that included 21 road wins in a row.
Coach Holley is the career leader in wins among HAAC basketball coaches. He’s had twenty-two 20-win seasons (thirteen teams have had 25 or more wins and four have won 30 or more). He is only the 28th NCAA or NAIA coach to reach 700 wins. He ranks #3 among all NAIA coaches (Division I & II – 276 schools) and #8 among active four-year college coaches (NCAA I, II, III & NAIA I & II – 1261 schools) and he ranks #17 among all coaches all-time on the same list. He ranks #1 all-time in career wins among four-year college coaches only at Missouri colleges/universities.
Holley has coached sixteen NAIA All-Americans (22 selections) including one who was named NAIA II National Player of the Year (Brook Russell: 1996). Fifteen of his players (24 selections) have been named NAIA Academic All-Americans. While at Jewell 120 out of 126 of his fourth year players have graduated (95%).
Holley is a 1967 Jewell graduate. He lettered four times in each of three sports (cross country, basketball & track). He was captain of each sport and capped his career by being named Jewell’s Athlete of the Year (Cecil R. Martin Award) as a senior. He scored 1,122 points in his basketball career at Jewell (#7 on the scoring chart at the time – currently #34) and was an All-Conference and All-District selection as a senior. Off the court he was named ‘Mr. School Spirit,’ president of his fraternity (Lambda Chi Alpha), president of the J Club (letter winner’s organization), vice-president of the senior class, and a member of Aeons (senior men’s honorary fraternity). Holley was selected for Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities and was the recipient of the Colonel Alexander Doniphan Award that goes to the senior man deemed most likely to succeed.
This Jameson, MO native made five trips to Columbia, MO during his senior year in high school to compete in state competition in basketball, indoor track, music, speech and outdoor track. As a senior he led the Huskies to a 33-1 record and a third place finish in the Class S State Tournament. He was Jameson’s first ever First Team All State selection and his jersey is now retired. He also won the Class S State Indoor Mile Run, placed 4th at the State Outdoor Meet and was Valedictorian of his graduating class.
Coach Holley married the former Linda MacLeod on November 1, 2008. He has three daughters from his marriage to Ann, who passed away in 2006. Lindsay and Lauren are both graduates of William Jewell College and Lacey is a graduate of Drake University. Lindsay and her husband Michael are the parents of two children (Reagan and Evan). Linda, who has three degrees from UMKC, has two daughters. Angie is a graduate of Rockhurst University and Sara is a graduate of the University of Kansas. Angie and her husband Steve are the parents of two children (Abby and Mia) and Sara has a daughter (Sadie).
Tim Sutton
Assistant Basketball Coach
Tim Sutton enters his fifth season as an assistant coach with The Cardinals. Sutton coached previously at Excelsior Springs and North Kansas City High Schools. Tim played basketball and baseball at Excelsior Springs High School. He is a graduate of Northwest Missouri State University and he and his wife Janet live in Liberty and have one son, Sam (13).
John Davenport
Assistant Basketball Coach
John Davenport enters his second year with the Cardinals. Davenport will assist with the varsity after heading the Junior Varsity squad last season. John prepped at William Chrisman High School in Independence where he played for former William Jewell Cardinal, John Vickers (1989 graduate). He is a 2007 graduate of William Jewell College where he played for Coach Holley. Davenport and his wife Angela reside in Liberty.
Andrew Dowis
Assistant Basketball Coach/Head Junior Varsity Coach
Andrew Dowis enters his first year as an assistant coach for the William Jewell College Basketball program. He is a 2007 graduate of Northwest Missouri State University and a 2003 graduate of Jefferson High School in Conception, MO. He was a 1st Team All-State point-guard at Jefferson. Dowis is currently working on his masters degree in Sports Management. He and his wife Sileen currently reside in Kansas City, MO.
Jared Broughton
Student Assitant Coach
Jared Broughton is in his second season as a student assistant for the junior varsity team. He is also the statistician for the varsity. Jared played for the Cardinals JV squad his freshman and sophomore years. He is a senior majoring in Secondary Education and History. His parents, Steve (who played for the Cardinals: 1977-81) and Marcy (Gant – who played volleyball, basketball and softball), both graduated from William Jewell in 1982. Jared is a graduate of Grain Valley, MO High School where he lettered in basketball and golf.
Alan Peel
Administrative assistant
Alan Peel returns to William Jewell as an administrative assistant with the varsity. He is a 2004 graduate of William Jewell, where he was a student manager/assistant for three years. Alan also worked as a graduate assistant at Rockhurst University (2005-06). Alan is currently working on his master’s degree in Coaching from the United States Sports Academy (Daphne, AL).
