By Stephen J. Gaither
He may be known best as the architect of the rebirth of the Detroit Lions of the NFL, but before he was that, Brad Holmes was a student-athlete at an HBCU.
The Lions Executive Vice President General Manager was recently back in Greensboro to decliever the spring 2025 commencement speech for North Carolina A&T.
The former NC A&T football defensive back, who helped led the football program to the 1999 MEAC title, spent part of his speech quoting from a poem entitled ‘Choose Your Hard.” The poem provided perspective on the inevitability that life will be difficult, but empowered the students to choose their hard.
“However you slice it – whichever path you choose – it’s going to be hard,” Holmes said. “Be proud of where you come from. That blue and gold you bleed hits different. That statue of the Greensboro Four should mean something to you. Those bullet holes on the side of Scott Hall should mean something to you. That AC window unit that I put up and duck-tapped up in Grouper Hall – means something to me. It shaped me.”
“When people disrespect Aggie Pride. That say ‘so you went to AT&T?” — that strikes a nerve in me,” Holmes continued. “It makes me cringe. A&T is where the real ones are made. Aggies are gritty. Not verbatim, but in light of W.E.B. Dubois – a highly dedicated Aggie is dangerous. It’s scary in a great way. You’ll be dangerously successful. And that fires me up – because you are the future.”
From HBCU player to NFL executive
The Tampa, Fla. native, graduated cum laude from North Carolina A&T State University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Mass Communication Brad Holmes was named the Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager on Jan. 14, 2021. In his role, he oversees the Lions’ football operations and reports directly to Principal Owner and Chair Sheila Ford Hamp and President and CEO Rod Wood.
Holmes joined the Lions after spending 18 seasons with the Los Angeles Rams (2003-2020). In 2013, the Rams elevated Holmes to Director of College Scouting, where he was responsible for overseeing the NFL franchise’s scouting operations for eight seasons.
