Mike Holder
Vice President for Athletic Programs and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics

Mike Holder hit the ground running when he was named Vice President for Athletic Programs and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Oklahoma State University on Sept. 16, 2005.

In 32 years of leading his alma mater’s golf program, Holder’s name became synonymous with success not only on the golf course, but in fundraising, facility development and the academic performance of his student-athletes. In fact, a strong case could be made that Holder took Oklahoma State’s already strong golf program and transformed it into America’s top collegiate program.

Those same leadership skills have served him well in his short time guiding OSU’s athletic department. His plan and vision for the betterment of Cowboy and Cowgirl athletics have already begun to take shape, most notably with the completion of Boone Pickens Stadium.

The stadium features suites and club seats on both the north and south sides with more suites coming on line with the mammoth west end zone project scheduled to be completed prior to the beginning of the 2009 season. Seating opened in the west end zone in 2008, increasing the capacity of Boone Pickens Stadium to 60,000.

Under Holder’s direction, the Oklahoma State University Department of Athletics has continued to move forward while maintaining its traditional strengths. A total of 10 OSU sports teams were ranked in the top 10 during the 2006-2007 academic year, while the football team posted consecutive bowl wins for the first time since the 1987 and 1988 seasons. OSU has won two more national team championships under Holder’s watch, raising the school’s championship count to 48 – the fourth best total in the country and tops in the Big 12 Conference.

Holder’s tenure has also featured landmark fundraising by the athletic department, including the landmark $165 million gift from T. Boone Pickens that pushed OSU’s facility drive into high gear. The legendary OSU alum also helped complete the west end zone project with another $63 million gift in 2008. At Holder’s urging, OSU Athletics place a new emphasis on scholarship endowments. That endowment drive has seen Oklahoma State climb from dead last in the Big 12 to third with gifts and commitments nearing $30 million. Just three years ago, OSU’s endowment stood at $2.1 million.

Perhaps Holder’s adept fundraising stems from his “fund-giving”. He and his wife, Robbie, illustrated their commitment to Oklahoma State when they donated $500,000 for the first fully endowed scholarship for Cowboy football. The scholarship is named for former OSU player, the late Vernon Grant.

In July of 2008, the Holders donated $1 million for an entrepreneurship super chair at OSU in the Spears School of Business.

“Robbie and I made the gift to the college of business because of Malone  and Amy Mitchell,” Holder said at the announcement. “Having two degrees in business was the icing on the cake. I would like to see this new program become nationally recognized and make a difference in the lives of young people.”

Malone and Amy Mitchell had made a $57.2 million gift to OSU, split evenly between athletics and academics, on the day the Holders announced their $1 million gift.

Things are on the upswing at the turnstiles as well. Oklahoma State set a new school record in 2008 with 39,976 season tickets purchased by Cowboy football fans. Oklahoma State set a new single-game record with 52,463 fans on hand for OSU’s win over Troy last season.

Holder smoothly administered his first high-profile job search last spring when Oklahoma State went looking for a men’s basketball coach. The pressure was on to fill a position that had been occupied by two of the winningest coaches in college basketball history in Henry Iba and Eddie Sutton. Holder tabbed Travis Ford for the job and the first-year coach immediately validated the decision by taking OSU to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2005 as the Cowboys advanced to the second round with a thin roster that battled to the very end.

During his tenure as the men’s golf coach, Holder’s successes included not only his team’s results on the course, but his players’ performances in the classroom and beyond. His vision and fundraising abilities resulted in the creation of Karsten Creek, a magnificent golf course in Stillwater, selected as the Best New Public Course in 1994 by Golf Digest magazine. In 2000, Holder’s team claimed the national championship, marking the eighth time his squad carried home the NCAA trophy. And while high national finishes are the norm at Oklahoma State, the accomplishments of his teams never stopped at the 18th hole.

Holder took over his OSU coaching post on July 1, 1973, and during his tenure, 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, Holder saw to it that his players 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. Kuehne was OSU’s outstanding male graduate in 1995 as well.

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 student-athletes were from Oklahoma State. Holder had 21 academic All-America selections from the inception of that honor in 1984 until he vacated the head coaching position for the AD’s chair, as well as countless academic all-Big Eight and all-Big 12 selections.

Holder is one of five coaches in NCAA history, regardless of sport, to win a national championship in four different decades. Three times Holder coached the Cowboys to the national team title the same year an OSU individual also claimed medalist honors (1978, 1987 and 2000). Along the way, he claimed 25 conference championships. His 21 Big Eight championships were the second most by a head coach in any sport, trailing only Kansas basketball coach Phog Allen.

As a student-athlete, Holder was the 1970 Big Eight medalist and led OSU to the conference team title. He was a third-team All-American as a junior and a senior and an honorable mention All-American as a sophomore.