2026 Shore Sports Insider Boys Lacrosse Coach of the Year: Brendan Quinn, Holmdel
One year ago, Holmdel finished the season with a disappointing 8-10 record.
Twelve months later, the Hornets had doubled their win total, defeated perennial powerhouse Christian Brothers Academy, reached the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals, and advanced to the North Jersey Group 2 semifinals.
The architect behind that turnaround was head coach Brendan Quinn.
After guiding one of the Shore Conference’s biggest success stories, Quinn has been named the 2026 Shore Sports Insider Coach of the Year.
Holmdel head coach Brendan Quinn (Photo: Tom Smith | tspsportsimages.com)
While the accomplishments on the field were significant, Quinn was quick to redirect the attention away from himself.
“To be honest, I don’t really view this as a personal award,” Quinn said. “I’m getting this award because we had a good team this year. We have great players, who are even better kids who have worked really hard to get to where we were this year.”
That team-first mentality has become one of the defining characteristics of Holmdel’s program.
The Hornets entered the season with expectations of being competitive, but few predicted the leap they would make. After beginning the year ranked ninth in the Shore Sports Insider preseason rankings, Holmdel steadily climbed throughout the spring behind a veteran-led roster and a commitment to improvement that Quinn believes started long before the first game.
“We had a lot of kids take major steps between last year and this year, along with some key newcomers who helped us have the year that we did,” Quinn said. “Getting Jack [Cannon] back certainly helped. He is gifted. We had a great senior class, and all of them were great leaders and great kids. They were the engine of this team and will be greatly missed.”
The results spoke for themselves.
Holmdel finished 16-6 and established itself as one of the Shore Conference’s toughest teams. The Hornets earned one of the biggest victories of the regular season when they knocked off CBA 9-8, proving they could compete with anyone in the state.
Their success continued into the postseason.
Holmdel advanced to the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals after defeating Manasquan in the quarterfinals and later reached the North Jersey Group 2 semifinals with state playoff victories over River Dell and Montville before ultimately falling to Sparta.
Holmdel head coach Brendan Quinn speaking with his players (Photo: Tom Smith | tspsportsimages.com)
“The kids are the culture,” Quinn said. “They show up and work hard every day. They don’t care about individual accolades or anything like that. They just want to win. It’s such a pleasure to work here because year in and year out it’s more of the same. Great kids who want to work hard and succeed.”
That culture helped fuel one of the Shore Conference’s most impressive year-to-year turnarounds and reinforced Holmdel’s reputation as one of the area’s most respected programs.
Quinn was also quick to recognize the assistant coaches who helped make the season possible.
“I’m very fortunate in that I get to work with some great coaches,” Quinn said. “Connor Lawlor has been with us since I took the head job in 2019. He runs our offense, and I couldn’t do this job without him. John Mackey is a former player here who joined us four years ago and fits in perfectly. Jack Kapcsos volunteered his time to help out this year and played a big role in helping our younger guys take the next step on the varsity level. I’m so thankful for those guys, and they’re a huge reason why we were able to have success this year.”
For a team that exceeded expectations and reestablished itself among the Shore Conference’s top programs, Quinn’s award serves as recognition of what the Hornets accomplished together.
