David L. Holmes (coach)

David Lynn Holmes (1887 – June 19, 1960) was an American college sports coach and athletics administrator. Over a 41-year period, he coached football, basketball, track and field, and cross country at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Holmes was born in Carlton, Kansas. He attended school in Oklahoma, and graduated from Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College—now known as Oklahoma State University—in 1908. He later earned a master's degree from Columbia University.

Holmes began his coaching career in 1908 at Bethel College in Russellville, Kentucky. There he served as physical director for four years, and coached football and basketball. He returned to his home state in 1912 when he was appointed head of the athletic department at the Oklahoma Institute of Technology—now known as Northern Oklahoma College—in Tonkawa. Two years later, he was hired as the physical director at Cass Technical High School in Detroit. Holmes married Hazel Jean Madden, on June 16, 1917.

Holmes died of a heart attack, on June 19, 1960, at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1975. Holmes' son, David L. Holmes (1932–2023), was a church historian and longtime professor at the College of William & Mary.