Familiarity play role in elevating Kyle Holderfield to Harrison head football coach

Posted by author March 4, 2025 Football

Spread the love

WEST LAFAYETTE — Newly hired Harrison football coach Kyle Holderfield was one of the builders of the Raiders’ football revival in 2014.

Holderfield had just graduated from Purdue with a degree in education while the largest high school in West Lafayette was dealt loss after humiliating loss between 2010-13.

A string of 37 consecutive defeats befell the program on Rickard Field, named after its all-time winningest coach A.J. Rickard. Rickard brought a state title to Harrison in 1992 but after his retirement — the program struggled to be competitive consistently.

That was until former head coach Terry Peebles, a 1995 NCAA Division III Player of the Year and offensive coordinator at Benedictine University, Waynesburg College, Hanover College, Carthage College and Bluffton University came to town.

“He’s one of the best football coaches in the state of Indiana,” Holderfield said. “Xs and Os wise he’s a great relationship person and a great guy off the field. He’s a great mentor and taught me how to be a coach from top to bottom. I grew under him the last nine years, took me under his wing and trust and loyalty go a long way.”

Key returners for Harrison

Holderfield, who leads his first program, inherits a Harrison offensive infrastructure in place with the returns of incoming seniors ATH Jack Gonzalez (92 receptions, 598 yards and 13 touchdowns, 29 tackles, three interceptions) and quarterback Lannon Nicoloff (110-of-170 for 1,371 yards, 11 touchdowns and four interceptions).

Incoming senior 6-foot-5 Blake Jones will move back to the offensive line after playing defensive line his junior year. Jones will be joined by returning starters junior Elijah Wildoner and senior Joseph Gutierrez while graduating All-Area linebacker Jackson Mills moves on to play football at Marian College.

Other key returners include incoming senior wide receivers Quinn Clary (18 receptions, 341 yards and two touchdowns), senior Jacob Schwartz (10 receptions, 223 yards and two touchdowns) and Channing Glick (22 receptions, 178 yards and four touchdowns).

Defensively the Raiders return incoming seniors defensive lineman Evan Walker (59 tackles, 11.5 TFL), outside linebacker Clayton Daubenmire (46 tackles, 2 TFL) and junior defensive lineman Derek Parker (25 tackles and 4.5 TFL).

Multi-sport athletes make up a majority of Harrison’s football team led by Nicoloff who is committed to play baseball at George Mason. Gonzalez plays baseball and basketball with Clary while Gutierrez is a sectional contending wrestler at 285.

“The great thing about Harrison kids is they’re very coachable,” Holderfield said. “They’ve got great personalities and I love the fact they play multiple sports. Being involved in multiple sports will help them be better athletes on the football field as well.”

Jones said he’s been hard at work trying to become quicker after he hit the scales at 345 pounds.

“The goal is to be a step faster and quicker,” Jones said. “I’m down to 290 and I think not being fast was something that held me back last year. I’ll be a lot faster and more agile.”

New era and IHSAA transfer rules

The hiring of Holderfield comes under different circumstances when Peebles came to West Lafayette. Holderfield having the competitive foundation and resources in place to push the program upward having played class 6A football in 2024.

“The foundation is already there and it’s my job to continue to build on it as our student body population continues to grow,” Holderfield said. ‘When I got here in 2015 we were at 1750 and I’ve seen it grow.”

Harrison principal Cory Marshall said the search was widespread didn’t focus solely on keeping its hiring process in Tippecanoe County. It just so happened that the right candidate was already working in the school.

It was about finding a candidate that was very knowledgeable about football,” Marshall said. “Who can build good relationships with our kids and can move us where we want to be as far as competitiveness which is where we have been and build on that.”

Holderfield enters his first coaching job as the IHSAA will allow non incoming seniors the ability to transfer schools without running the risk of sitting out an entire year.

A dynamic that could affect a program’s success rate in 2025 and beyond.

“School choice sometimes coincides with athletics and as (athletic director Jerry Galema) alluded to, the IHSAA is trying to get ahead of the 8-ball before its a problem,” Holderfield said. “We’ll see what it looks it’s like in June. I’m not sure what it’ll entail but it’ll for sure impact Lafayette, Indianapolis and Fort Wayne and everybody.”

Kendrick Lamar and buy-in from players

When he was approached a week ago by a player after word got out he was in the running for the job, the question was asked to the Harrison social studies teacher and former offensive coordinator: what would the music playlist be like at practice?

Peebles had classic tastes that would range from Jackson 5 to Elvis Presley.

Holderfield expects the playlist to feature more hip-hop and rap music at practice but also maintain the strict structure and workmanship at practice that Peebles became famous for.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it but if we can find some clean Kendrick Lamar songs that we could play, that’s what we might play at our first practice,” Holderfield said.

Jones congratulated Holderfield after taking the SAT on Tuesday morning. Holderfield conducted tests from his classroom but was greeted by Jones and several players after news spread of him being named head coach.

“It’s a really good decision by the school,” Jones said. “He knows us as players already, knows the program and is really good at getting us motivated and prepared.”

Projected 2025 Harrison football schedule

Aug. 22 vs. West Lafayette 7 p.m.
Aug. 29 at Plainfield 7 p.m.
Sept. 5 vs. Brebeuf Jesuit 7 p.m.
Sept. 12 vs. Lafayette Jeff 7 p.m.
Sept. 19 at North Central 7 p.m.
Sept. 26 at McCutcheon 7 p.m.
Oct. 3 vs. Bishop Chatard 7 p.m.
Oct. 10 vs. Roncalli 7 p.m.
Oct. 17 at Lebanon 7 p.m.

Ethan Hanson is the sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached at ehanson@jconline.com, on Twitter at EthanAHanson and Instagram at ethan_a_hanson.