Jevonte Holmes resigns as Memphis East basketball coach

Jevonte Holmes has officially resigned as basketball coach at Memphis East, he confirmed with The Commercial Appeal on Friday.

The end of his tenure comes after leading East back to the state tournament for the first time since 2017. The 2018 and 2019 appearances were negated by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association after the school violated the TSSAA's recruiting rule. As punishment, Memphis East had to return the gold ball it won in 2018 and silver ball in 2019. It also had to pay nearly $15,000 in fines back to the TSSAA.

"It was just time," Holmes said.

Holmes had been at East since 2015 and served as an assistant coach with Penny Hardaway. He (Holmes) took over the program in 2019.

When the administration at East changed in 2022, Holmes said there were some challenges and felt that after this season he wanted to take some time away from coaching at the high school level.

For now, he’s planning on coaching his son and their seventh-grade team. He hopes to return to the sidelines when his son gets to high school.  

Reach Wynston Wilcox at wwilcox@gannett.com and on Twitter @wynstonw__.