Recognized as a 2013 finalist for National Athletic Director of the Year in the Sports Business Awards by SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily, Mike Holder is a central figure in Oklahoma State’s current athletic resurgence. He was named Vice President for Athletic Programs and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Oklahoma State University on Sept. 16, 2005.
In his 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 case could be made that Holder took Oklahoma State’s already strong golf program and transformed it into America’s best.
Those same leadership skills have served him well in his time guiding OSU’s athletic department. His plan and vision for the betterment of Cowboy and Cowgirl athletics have taken shape, most notably with the completion of Boone Pickens Stadium. The stadium, now a horseshoe with more than 60,000 seats, features 123 suites.
Also during Holder’s tenure, OSU opened the 92,000 square foot Sherman E. Smith Training Center to serve several Cowboy and Cowgirl teams, the sparkling 50,000-square foot Michael and Anne Greenwood Tennis Center - which features six indoor courts and 12 outdoor courts - and a brand new track and field complex. In the spring of 2017, OSU broke ground on a new $20 million soccer complex that is planned to open in the fall of 2018.
OSU has won five more national team championships under Holder’s watch, raising the school’s championship count to 56 – the fourth best total in the country and tops in the Big 12 Conference. With Holder serving as athletic director, 11 different OSU teams have combined to win 46 Big 12 team titles.
The Cowboy football team has appeared in 11 straight bowl games for the first time in school history. In 2011, OSU claimed its first outright conference football championship of the modern era.
Holder’s tenure has also featured landmark fundraising by the athletic department, including the $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 has placed an emphasis on scholarship endowments. The “Leave A Legacy” endowment drive has seen Oklahoma State climb from dead last in the Big 12 to the top with gifts and commitments of approximately $61 million. As recently as 2009, OSU’s endowment stood at just $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. The Holders’ lifetime giving to OSU surpasses $2.5 million, including $1 million for an entrepreneurship super chair at OSU in the Spears School of Business.
Things are on the upswing at the turnstiles as well. Oklahoma State set new school records for football season ticket sales in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013, surpassing the 50,000 mark for the first time in 2013 with a final tally of 50,223 season tickets sold that season.
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. That publication listed Karsten Creek as the nation’s 14th “greatest public course” in 2017.
In 2000, Holder’s Cowboy golf 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 112 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 was 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.
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.
Holder, a graduate of Ardmore High School, earned his degree in marketing from Oklahoma State in 1970 and completed work on his MBA at OSU in 1973. His wife, Robbie, graduated as salutatorian from Jasper High School in 1966, and attended the University of Houston where they met at the All-American Intercollegiate golf tournament in 1968.
