Biola University Athletics

Dr. Dave Holmquist enters the 2026-27 season, his 50th as a college head coach and his 47th at Biola, as one of the winningest coaches in the history of college basketball. Through 49 seasons he has an overall record of 1,095-462 (.703), including 1,059-419 (.717) at Biola, and he ranks fourth all-time in victories among men's college basketball coaches at four-year schools (NCAA Divisions I, II and III and NAIA).

Holmquist is one of six four-year college men's basketball coaches to win 1,000 career games. He earned his 1,000th win against Concordia Irvine on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021, and he surpassed 1,000 wins at Biola with a win over Chaminade at home on Jan. 27, 2023.

In addition to his coaching record, Dr. Holmquist spent 27 years as Biola's Athletic Director before handing that role off to Dr. Bethany Miller in advance of the Eagles' transition to NCAA Division II.

Holmquist inherited a program that had not won more than 25 games in a season nor advanced to a national tournament in 18 years prior to his arrival. Since he became head coach at Biola, the Eagles have averaged 23 wins a year. Upon the program's departure from the NAIA, Biola's 21 trips to the NAIA national championship were among the most of any NAIA program.

Through 49 seasons he has led his teams in 1,557 games, including 1,478 on the sideline for Biola. He coached his 1,500th career game in the 2024-25 season opener, a 65-57 win at Cal State San Marcos on Nov. 8, 2024.

Season-by-Season Record

* Co-Head Coach

Postseason Record

Conference tournament records count GSAC tournaments (1994-95 through 2016-17) and the PacWest Championships (2017-18 to present).

Honors and Milestones

He coached Biola to 21 appearances at the NAIA National Championship tournament and two NCAA Division II tournament appearances (2021 and 2025), and the Eagles reached postseason play in every eligible season through 2024-25. He has earned two NAIA National Coach of the Year awards, nine conference/district Coach of the Year awards and is a NAIA Hall of Fame member (2002).

He earned his 900th career coaching victory with a 79-60 victory over Bethesda on Nov. 24, 2015. That win made him one of only a handful of men's coaches at four-year colleges to reach 900 wins.

During his tenure at Biola, he's helped players to 32 NAIA All-American honors and 40 All-GSAC honors, including three GSAC Players of the Year: Matt Garrison (1996-97), Nate Strong (2001-02) and Dakari Archer (2015-16). Biola players also experienced success right away in the PacWest Conference, earning five All-PacWest honors in the first three years, including the conference Freshman of the Year in 2017-18. Through 2025-26, the Eagles have had 22 All-PacWest selections.

Holmquist was the longest-tenured coach in the Golden State Athletic Conference, known since its inception as a "coaches conference." During their time in the GSAC (1994-95 through 2016-17), Holmquist guided the Eagles to a 250-150 record (.625 win percentage). Over that stretch, his teams finished in the top-4 in 14 of 23 seasons including conference championships in 2001-02 and 2015-16.

Holmquist earned GSAC Coach of the Year honors four times (1996-97, 2001-02, 2004-05 and 2015-16).

Recent Seasons

Biola went 15-13 in 2025-26 and 11-11 in PacWest play. Cameron Brown earned second-team All-PacWest honors and Tyus Parrish-Tillman was named to the third team.

The 2024-25 season was Biola's best of the NCAA Division II era. The Eagles went 22-8, giving Holmquist his 31st 20-win season, and finished second in the PacWest at 16-4. Biola earned the No. 2 seed and a bye in the PacWest Championships, falling to Academy of Art 67-66 in the semifinals, and then made its second NCAA Division II tournament appearance as the No. 4 seed in the West Region, where it fell to Cal State San Bernardino in the first round. Casey Cappo and Daniel Esparza were first-team All-PacWest selections, and Davian Brown made the second team and was named PacWest Newcomer of the Year. Cappo scored his 1,000th point as an Eagle, and Esparza passed 1,000 career points.

In 2023-24, Biola went 17-12 and 12-8 in conference play, tying for fourth in the PacWest. Nathan Medina earned first-team All-PacWest honors, with Esparza on the second team and Maximo Milovich on the third.

Biola went 18-11 in 2022-23 and reached the PacWest semifinals as the No. 5 seed after beating No. 4 Hawai'i Hilo 79-51 in the quarterfinals. That season Holmquist won his 1,000th game at Biola and, with an 88-86 win over Hawai'i Pacific on Feb. 25, 2023, tied Danny Miles with 1,040 career wins. Alex Wright earned first-team All-PacWest honors, his third All-PacWest selection, while Esparza made the second team and Milovich the third.

Biola men's basketball collected 21 wins in the 2021-22 campaign, reaching the 20-win threshold for the first time in five years. BU logged an eight-game win streak from January 22 through February 12, defeating a PacWest foe in each contest. In postseason play, Biola picked up a win against Concordia in the opening round of the PacWest Championships, before being eliminated in the semifinals for a third place finish.

Two Eagles reached the 1,000 point milestone in 2021-22 at Biola, including Chris Rossow and Alex Wright. The duo plus Michael Bagatourian each made the All-PacWest team at the conclusion of the season.

The 2019-20 season was one worth the wait for Holmquist's Biola side. He led the team to a repeat fifth-place finish in league play, ending with a program-best PacWest Conference record of 13-9. It was a two-win improvement from 18-19 and eight-win improvement over the team's inaugural PacWest Conference season in 2017-18.

The highlight was that 19-20 was the team's first year eligible to play in the PacWest Conference tournament and NCAA Division II postseason. Despite losing their starting point guard with five games left in the season, Biola entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed and earned upset wins over No. 4 seeded, Concordia Irvine, the team picked to win the conference in the preseason poll, and also the No. 1 seed and outright regular season champions, Azusa Pacific.

The Cougars entered the semifinal matchup with Biola riding a winning streak of 20 games. The storyline going in was all about APU looking to tie its program record with 21st win in a row and also continue their journey towards being the first tournament host to win the PacWest Men's Basketball tournament. Holmquist's squad, despite a scoring margin of -16 in its two regular season losses to APU, shocked the Cougars with a Michael Bagatourian game-winning shot leading to an 82-79 BU victory and a spot in the PacWest Tournament Championship vs. 2018-19 conference champions and national runners-up Point Loma.

Biola gave the Sea Lions everything they had in a thrilling championship game that saw 19 lead changes throughout and took an overtime, buzzer-beater, NBA-distance three-point shot from PLNU to win the game, 98-95. This closed out Biola's season just one win short of earning a berth in the NCAA Division II tournament during its first season eligible. As it turns out, that PacWest Championship game was the last men's basketball game played for any PacWest Conference school in 2019-20, with the season being cut short due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

NAIA Era Highlights

Prior to joining the PacWest, Holmquist's Eagles left an impact during their final season in the NAIA in 2016-17. Winning its final eight home games during the regular season propelled Biola to Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament and NAIA National Championship appearances. Seniors Dakari Archer and Caelan Tiongson garnered All-GSAC honors and averaged 15.1 and 13.2 points, respectively. The Eagles finished out their NAIA tenure with a nail-biting 78-76 loss to Langston (Okla.) in the opening round of the NAIA Nationals.

The 2015-16 season was easily one of the most enjoyable of the long, accomplished and outstanding career of coach Holmquist. His team finished ranked inside of the top-10 in the NAIA and ended the year with a 30-4 overall record. The team swept the Golden State Athletic Conference championships by winning the regular season with a 14-2 record and earning the tournament championship over Hope International in a game regionally televised on FOX Sports Prime Ticket.

Holmquist was honored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches with their NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coach of the Year honor. He also took home GSAC Coach of the Year honors.

During the 2001-02 season, Holmquist became the youngest coach to reach the 600-win plateau and was among the youngest when he went over 700 wins in 2005-06. He won his 800th career game on Dec. 29 in victory over University of the Fraser Valley, needing just 1,095 games to reach that plateau.

He guided the Eagles to their first GSAC title in 2001-02 in what proved to be one of the most successful seasons in program history. Biola wore the conference crown with a 17-3 record and wrapped up the year at 29-5, reaching the second round of the NAIA tournament. The title in 2015-16 was the second GSAC title in program history, seeing the Eagles finish with very similar season numbers to the 01-02 team.

Holmquist’s most successful season came in 1981-82 when Biola finished with a 39-1 overall record and advanced to the NAIA championship game. He was named the NAIA co-Head Coach of the Year. That team was the first team ever inducted into the Biola Athletics Hall of Fame, going in during the spring 2019 induction.

In addition, the Eagles reached the postseason in each of his eligible seasons through 2024-25, advancing to the NAIA Championship game in 1981-82. He guided Biola to the NAIA tournament four straight seasons (2008-12), including NAIA Quarterfinal berths in three of those, making for eight NAIA quarterfinal appearances during Holmquist’s tenure.

Playing Career and Early Coaching

Holmquist played two seasons at Biola (1972-74), being named team captain his senior season after transferring from nearby Cypress College.

After his graduation from Biola in 1974, Holmquist became head coach at Fresno Pacific College (now University) at just 24 years of age. He coached three seasons at Fresno Pacific (1975-76 through 1977-78), amassing a record of 36-43 before returning to his alma mater at the start of the 1978-79 season to become Co-Head Coach with Howard Lyon.

College Men's Basketball Winningest Coaches (NCAA I, II, III & NAIA)

*Active coach. Updated through 2025-26 season. Ellis's total counts four-year college wins only (does not include 78 junior college wins at Cumberland).