After 3 years, DeVonte Holloman is stepping down as South Pointe football coach
DeVonte Holloman is stepping down.
The South Pointe head football coach, who for three seasons in his role sustained a culture of success that he helped start when he was a Stallion student himself, will not return to the Rock Hill high school in the fall. He is pursuing another job opportunity, per a source with direct knowledge of the situation, but his next destination hasn’t yet been announced.
Holloman informed his players and staff of his move at a team meeting on Tuesday morning.
As head coach of the Stallions, Holloman went 29-5 and won three straight region championships. In 2021, he delivered South Pointe its seventh state championship since the school opened in 2005 and its first since 2017.
Along the way, he was more than a coach: He sent handfuls of Stallions to college on football scholarships, including O’Mega Blake who’s now at USC. And he advocated for mental health awareness and care in his sports-loving community — sharing his own experiences in the process.
The 30-year-old coach’s path to South Pointe is one of tragedy and triumph. Holloman moved to Rock Hill from Charlotte in 2008, joining forces with Stephon Gilmore at South Pointe to help lead the Stallions to a 15-0 season, a national ranking and a state championship. He graduated from South Pointe in 2009 and earned a scholarship as a defensive back/linebacker from USC, where he was a key contributor to USC’s resurgence under Steve Spurrier.
Holloman was drafted in the sixth round by the Dallas Cowboys in 2013 and was special in the seven games he played in as a rookie. His playing career was cut short, though, due to an injury, and because of that, he retired from playing earlier than he’d wanted or expected.
His playing days over, Holloman became a graduate assistant for a year at USC before reloacting to Beaufort, S.C., where he moved up the ladder at Beaufort High School and became the school’s head football coach in 2018.
And then a year later, after a family tragedy compelled him back home, he applied for the head coaching job at South Pointe and got it.
In 2019, he became the first Black head football coach to lead one of the three high school programs in Rock Hill.
Holloman will ‘surely be missed’
There’s speculation that Holloman could land at South Carolina, but it would have to be an on-field position. Former USC quarterback Connor Shaw stepped down last week as USC’s director of football relations for head coach Shane Beamer. But an NCAA rule established in 2017 prevents anyone associated with a prospect to be hired as a non-field coach within two years of the prospect’s signing. (O’Mega Blake, who played for Holloman at South Pointe, will be a sophomore at USC.)
Rock Hill Schools later confirmed Holloman’s departure from South Pointe in a statement to The Herald.
“Coach Hollomon will surely be missed, but we are excited to see him take the next step in his career,” South Pointe AD Carlos Richardson said in a statement.
District spokesperson Lindsay Machak: “We are proud to see one of our alumni accomplish so many amazing things, and we are grateful to have had him to inspire our students in the time we’ve had.”
Holloman, in a statement sent to The Herald, said he’d like to “thank the administration, coaches, teachers, school staff, parents and most importantly my players for three incredible years here at South Pointe.”
“Words cannot express how grateful I am to everyone who has helped myself and South Pointe football continue its success on and off the field,” Holloman wrote. “The relationships I’ve made and the lessons I’ve learned here will stick with me throughout my career and life. I will forever be a Stallion, and thank you again for all the love and support.”
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 11:33 AM with the headline "After 3 years, DeVonte Holloman is stepping down as South Pointe football coach."
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