Mike Holder
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Mike Holder is the current athletic director for Oklahoma State University. He was preceded by Harry Birdwell.
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Mike Holder was named Vice President for Athletic Programs and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Oklahoma State University on Sept. 16, 2005.
In 32 years leading his alma mater’s golf program, Holder’s name became synonymous with success not only on the golf course, but in fundraising and facility development, most notably with the continued expansion of Boone Pickens Stadium and the plan for an OSU Athletic Village.
During his tenure as a coach, his fundraising abilities resulted in the creation of Karsten Creek, a championship golf course in Stillwater, which was selected as the Best New Public Course in 1994 by Golf Digest magazine and hosted the 2005 NCAA Men's Golf Championship.
In 2000, Holder’s team claimed the national championship, OSU's eighth NCAA championship trophy under Holder.
Holder took over the OSU coaching post on July 1, 1973. His teams set student-athlete standards that were unequaled. While he coached more than 110 All-America selections, including 38 first-team choices, and has numerous former players competing on the PGA Tour, overseas and on mini-tours, the Holder-coached golfers also excelled in the classroom.
During his tenure, OSU produced three Ben Hogan Award winners, which is based on academic and athletic excellence nationwide. Kevin Wentworth earned the honor in 1990, Trip Kuehne claimed the prestigious award in 1995 and Hunter Mahan was named the 2003 recipient.
Only 14 times since 1984 has a golfer been named first-team athletic All-America and academic All-America in the same season, and nine of those times that player was from Oklahoma State. Holder had 21 Academic All-America selections since the inception of that honor in 1984, as well as countless academic All- Big Eight and Big Twelve selections.
The five regulars on his 1994 and 1995 teams all earned All-America honors and Academic All-Big Eight honors during both seasons, giving a new definition to the term "student-athlete."
Holder was only the second golf coach that Oklahoma State had ever known. He followed the legendary Labron Harris, who coached the team from 1947 to ’73 and won 24 league titles and the 1963 NCAA Championship during his 27 years. Holder topped that by winning 25 league crowns and eight national championships in his 32 seasons. In 2006 Holder was succeeded by Mike McGraw, who coached the Cowboys to their 10th NCAA title in his first year.
Since a fifth-place national finish in his inaugural season, Holder’s teams finished lower than fourth at the NCAA Tournament just six times, including a string of 13 first- or second-place finishes in 14 years from 1975-88. OSU placed first or second at the national tournament in 18 of 30 seasons under his guidance, and his players won 22 conference individual titles in addition to five NCAA individual crowns.
Over Holder’s 32-year tenure, Oklahoma State entered 448 tournaments and won 178 titles, a 39.7 winning percentage. OSU also posted 99 runner-up finishes, which means that OSU placed either first or second in 62 percent of its tournaments. Through 2006 OSU qualified for 60 consecutive NCAA tournaments, considered the most impressive team streak in NCAA golf history.
As a member of the OSU golf team from 1968 to ’70, Holder earned honorable mention All-America honors as a sophomore and third-team status after his junior and senior seasons. In 1970, Holder captured Big Eight medalist honors while leading the Cowboys to the team league title.
After graduating in 1970 with a degree in marketing, Holder earned his MBA at OSU in 1973 and then assumed control of the Cowboy golf program.
The well-respected coach was a member of the seven-person NCAA Golf Committee from 1992 to 1998 and is currently serving another five-year term.
Mike Holder is one of five coaches all-time, regardless of sport, to have won national championships in four different decades.
Three times Holder had individual champions in the same year as the NCAA team title: 1978, 1987 and 2000.
Born Aug. 17, 1948, in Odessa, Texas, to Burniss “Speck” and Virginia Holder, he is married to the former Robbie Annette Yeates. The couple has one daughter, Michele.
