Editorial: It Was Great, but Holder Could Have Been Even Greater

STILLWATER — Keep repeating this sentence, Mike Holder has made Oklahoma State and Oklahoma State athletics so much better. The former national championship dominating golf coach, with eight national titles to his credit, turned into athletic director and his vision made a dynamic difference.

Related: Mike Holder to retire in June, Chad Weiberg to take over as Athletic Director

Holder is outstanding at cultivating billionaires and showing them consideration and at the same time a cause their monetary contribution can make a decided difference with. Look around and you can see it. There’s Boone Pickens Stadium, Greenwood Tennis Center, Neil Patterson Stadium, the Track and Field Complex, and now O’Brate Stadium for baseball. For Holder it all started with his pet project in Karsten Creek. 

Holder dreamed of building a world class golf course on state highway 51 just outside of Stillwater. This is where you can start playing the theme from the X-Files or the Twilight Zone. Nobody believed that possible.

"It is hard to describe the magnitude of the impact Mike Holder has had on Oklahoma State Athletics during his 16-year tenure," said Rick Davis, Chair of the OSU/A&M Regents. "He has elevated our athletic program to a level once unimaginable in national prominence and prestige by developing and building athletic facilities on par with any in the nation. The athletic village envisioned by Mike and his dear friend and our beloved alum, Boone Pickens, faced a lot of doubters in the beginning who questioned if it was even possible or practical. 

While Holder was a giant in fund raising and building projects, he sometimes lacked in sticking to strategy. He understood the value of the dollar and bricks and mortar, but not always the value of flesh and blood.

A longtime coach in an athletic department that had to work hard for all they had and seemingly always had to do more with less. His initial ideal coming in as the athletic director was make football the priority. Competing with the Florida’s, Texas, Ohio States of the world he knew football was capable of financially bringing up the entire operation.

Holder did that, but at some point, his relationship with his stated favorite as Cowboys football coach Mike Gundy slipped off track and the off and on relationship never fully recovered. You look at the best athletic directors in the nation and they walk in their office each day and think what can I do today to make football stronger? That is because that will make the entire department stronger.

Holder will forever be remembered for weakening Gundy and football with his famous football recruiting quote on Oklahoma State “not getting enough four- and five-star prospects.” I spoke to other athletic directors around the conference that simply couldn’t believe his comments.

“Even if I thought that, I would never have said that,” one Big 12 athletic director told me.

Holder was up and down in his coaching hires and relationships, but recently mostly up. Hires like Josh Holliday, Kenny Gajewski, Chris Young, and Mike Boynton have been strong. The unique hiring of Boynton has helped Holder get past the awkward mishandling of the Brad Underwood negotiations that saw Underwood surprisingly bolt for Illinois.

I can tell you the attitude and spirit inside the athletic department was not always uplifting. Fair or unfair, Holder was hard on his staff. His attitude in the COVID-19 pandemic was massive cost cutting and salary reductions, higher than any other Big 12 school. 

It is now important for Chad Weiberg to put his stamp on Oklahoma State athletics and I believe he will. I see a leader that will listen more but be firm in his decisions. I think the attitude and the team spirit will be stronger. 

However, every time you walk into Boone Pickens Stadium, Greenwood Tennis Center, and O’Brate Stadium you have to repeat that first sentence again and be grateful. Mike Holder has made Oklahoma State and Oklahoma State athletics much better.