Holness guided the Lions through a rebuilding season in 2024-25. His roster featured 14 players in their first or second year of eligibility after propelling the Lions to their first playoff appearence in five years in 2023-24, largely through the use of transfers from other U SPORTS and U.S. collegiate programs.
Holness was named York's interim head coach for the 2022-23 season. He joined the coaching staff for the 2021-22 season as an assistant, bringing with him 15 years of results-oriented basketball experience to the Lions sideline. The native of Toronto, Ont. arrives at York from the CEBL’s Edmonton Stingers, where he spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons as an assistant coach. He won the CEBL Championship in his first season as a member of the Stingers staff – which was also his first season as a member of a professional basketball coaching staff.
Holness has also spent five seasons from 2016-2020 as a member of the highly successful TMU (formerly Ryerson) men’s basketball program as an assistant coach. As a member of Roy Rana’s coaching staff, Holness earned an OUA Championship (2016), two OUA silver medals (2017 and 2018), two U SPORTS silver medals (2016 and 2017), and one U SPORTS bronze medal (2018).
In addition to his experience at the university and professional levels, Holness earned a national championship as assistant coach for the 2018 Ontario 15U team. He held that position from 2017-2019. He has also been the program director for Hoops Canada since 2013.
Holness graduated from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Ariz. with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with an emphasis in Performance and Sports Psychology. He also holds an Advance Diploma from Centennial College in Child and Youth Care, with honours.
