Florida native Ed Holly and Pearl product Justin Sanders join Buddy Stephens’ EMCC football coaching staff

SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College head football coach Buddy Stephens has announced the additions of defensive coordinator Ed Holly and defensive backs coach Justin Sanders to the Lions' football coaching staff.

Holly, a Florida native who begins his third coaching stint at EMCC, replaces Jordan Lesley, who has returned to his alma mater at Troy University to join head coach Neal Brown's football staff.  Sanders, a Pearl High School product who played collegiately at Northeast Mississippi Community College before transferring to the University of Illinois, replaces Clifton Collins, who has joined head football coach Tony Hughes' staff at Jackson State University.    

With Lesley and Collins having recently joined the four-year collegiate coaching ranks, a total of 12 former EMCC assistant football coaches under Stephens' guidance for the past eight years have now moved on to the next level following their East Mississippi coaching days, including four presently coaching on SEC football staffs.       

A 23-year coaching veteran with experience at virtually every level of football competition, Holly returns to the Scooba campus after most recently turning around the football fortunes as head coach at Coral Shores High School in Tavernier, Florida.  Upon inheriting a CSHS football program that had struggled through a 4-25 three-year composite record prior to his arrival in 2011, Holly proceeded to lead the Hurricanes to a five-year overall mark of 27-24.  For his coaching efforts in leading Coral Shores to three straight playoff appearances in the conference quarterfinals and a division co-championship in 2013, Holly earned back-to-back Southeastern Football Conference South Division Coach of the Year honors.

Holly was previously an initial member of Stephens' East Mississippi coaching staff during the 2008 and 2009 football seasons.  While serving as the program's recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach, Holly helped the Lions compile a two-year composite record of 19-3 that was highlighted by a school-first MACJC state championship in 2009 and back-to-back MACJC North Division regular-season titles.

In his first stint on the Scooba campus, Holly previously served on Roger Carr's 2004 EMCC coaching staff as the Lions' defensive coordinator and defensive line coach.  During his prior stops at East Mississippi, Holly helped mentor professional prospects Zack Anderson and Claude Davis along with current San Francisco 49ers standout Quinton Dial.  Holly was also the defensive coordinator at Northwest Mississippi Community College in between his prior two EMCC coaching stops.

With his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Florida and a master's degree in criminal justice from Northeast Louisiana University (now Louisiana-Monroe), Holly also had two previous coaching stints at North Carolina-based Methodist University.  Prior to his collegiate coaching days, he worked in his home state of Florida as an independent football consultant and teacher/coach on the prep level at Gainesville High School, Alachua's Santa Fe High School and Dunnellon High School.

Sanders, a native of Pearl with MACJC experience as a defensive back at Northeast Mississippi, also has Power 5 Conference connections with the Big Ten Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference.  Most recently, he spent the past two seasons working as a defensive graduate assistant at Texas A&M University, where he worked with Aggie defensive backs during a pair of eight-win seasons and back-to-back bowl game appearances.

Prior to his recent stint in College Station, Texas, Sanders received his first taste of collegiate coaching experience at the University of North Carolina.  As a two-year defensive graduate assistant for the Tar Heels, Sanders helped mentor 2014 NFL Draft selections Tre Boston and Jabari Price of the Carolina Panthers and Minnesota Vikings, respectively.  Sanders was also a part of UNC's 2013 Belk Bowl-winning team.

After capping his junior college career by being voted the 2005 MACJC North Division's Defensive Back MVP in helping lead the NEMCC Tigers to a 7-2 record, postseason bowl appearance and No. 15 final NJCAA ranking, Sanders continued his collegiate career at the University of Illinois.  As a senior on the Fighting Illini's 9-4 team in 2007 that won at top-ranked Ohio State during the regular season on the way to a Rose Bowl game berth and No. 20 final AP ranking, Sanders had 57 total stops, including four tackles for loss, eight pass breakups and three forced fumbles.

Following college and after a 2008 stint as a free agent with the NFL's Detroit Lions, Sanders returned to his home state of Mississippi to utilize his degree in mathematics by spending four years of coaching prep football and teaching math in Quitman and Richland.  After helping lead Quitman High School to three straight playoff appearances and developing four All-South State players as an assistant coach, he spent the 2011 campaign as Richland's defensive coordinator while also serving as head coach of the school's junior high football squad.