Dr. Dave Holmquist has been a fixture in the NAIA coaching seen for over 30 years, accumulating 737 wins while becoming the youngest collegiate coach at any level to reach both the 500 and 600 win plateaus. He has served as the Men’s Basketball coach at Biola for 28 of those 31 years, having won 701 games with the Eagles.
During his time at Biola, Dr. Holmquist has guided the Eagles to 15 NAIA tournament appearances. Biola has posted 23 seasons with 20 or more victories and has finished below .500 just once. His teams have won more district championships than any coach in California NAIA history. Equally as impressive, his teams have won the team sportsmanship trophy at the NAIA national tournament a record three times.
After the 1981-1982 season, Holmquist was named NAIA National Co-Coach of the Year, leading the team to a 39 - 1 record and a second place finish in the NAIA National Tournament. He was also named NAIA District Three Coach of the Year for the fourth time in 1991-1992. He earned Coach of the Year honors for the Golden State Athletic Conference in 1996-1997 and again in 2001-2002. In 2001, he was selected as one of eight coaches in the country to be appointed as a court coach for the USA Basketball Men’s National Team Trials. During his career, Holmquist has achieved coaching milestones that made him the youngest college basketball coach at any level to win 500 and 600 while becoming the second-youngest to reach 700 victories.
During his undergraduate years, Holmquist attended and played basketball at Cypress College and Biola College. While student body president at Cypress, he was selected to “Who's Who Among Students in American Junior Colleges” and received the Service Above Self Scholarship. At Biola, Holmquist was selected to “Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities” in 1974. He also captained the basketball team from his starting guard position.
After his graduation from Biola College in 1974, he became the basketball coach at Fresno Pacific College. The following year, he was selected to be the athletic director of the same school. Along with his coaching involvement, Holmquist has pursued an extensive education. He has earned five master's degrees (physical education, marriage, family and child counseling, European history, theology, philosophy); two from California State University at Fullerton, two from Biola and one from California State University at Long Beach. He has also earned a Ph.D. in physical education from the University of Southern California.
He has served as the Athletics Director at Biola since 1989. In 2001 he was selected as both the Golden State Athletic Conference Athletic Director of the year, the NAIA Region II Athletic Director of the year and the NACDA NAIA Athletic Director of the Year. He has been a member of the GSAC Athletic Director Executive Committee and functioned as the GSAC Basketball liaison, as well as serving on several different sub-committees.
