2025 Shore Sports Insider Coach of the Year – Holmdel’s Noel Kavanagh

In only his second season at the helm, Holmdel head coach Noel Kavanagh took the Hornets to heights never seen before in the program’s 53-year history. 

Kavanagh led Holmdel to the first state sectional title in program history when it captured the Central Jersey Group 3 crown with a 41-20 win over Seneca. For that achievement and much more, he has been selected as the 2025 Shore Sports Insider Coach of the Year. 

The Hornets played the hardest regular-season schedule in their history and finished 9-3 while competing in the brutal Class A North. 

They faced No. 1 Red Bank Catholic, No. 2 Brick Memorial, No. 4 Donovan Catholic, No. 7 Rumson-Fair Haven and No. 12 Middletown North among the Shore Sports Insider Top 12 and went 3-2 to finish ranked No. 3 in the Shore. It marked their highest final ranking in school history, and they were also ranked in the state top 20 by NJ.com at one point for the first time ever. 

Kavanagh, who was previously an assistant on state championship teams at Freehold and Neptune, brought his winning ways to Holmdel as well as a spread attack that could not be stopped under senior quarterback Jack Cannon. 

“It’s awesome that all these players trusted me so much and bought into our program,” Kavanagh said after the win over Seneca in the sectional final. “When I first got hired here a lot of people were like, ‘Who are these guys?’ But now I think everyone has a good respect for these guys because they do a phenomenal job. No one’s bigger than the team here. Everyone understands that we’re doing this together. It’s not about one person.”

Kavanagh was the offensive play-caller for a unit that led the Shore Conference with 43.1 points and 433.3 yards per game. No team held Holmdel under 28 points all season. 

Cannon had a season for the ages, setting a state record with 63 total touchdowns on his way to finishing with 4,420 total yards between rushing and passing. He was named the SSI Most Valuable Player as the best player in the Shore Conference. 

The two of them will be remembered forever in the confines of Bob Roggy Memorial Field after taking the Hornets to the Group 3 semifinals. They fell short against a Cedar Creek team that went on to win the overall Group 3 title, but not before putting 38 points on the Pirates. 

Scott Stump is the football editor and a reporter for Shore Sports Insider. He first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point. 

Email: scottstump25@gmail.com