Family:
Wife – Angela
Children – Michele, Michael III; three grandchildren
Florida Head Coaching Career:
• Men’s Track & Field (Associate Head
Coach – 1995-2002; Head Coach – 2002-Present)
• Women’s Track & Field (2007-Present)
• Men’s and Women’s Cross Country (2007-Present)
Notes:
• Three-time U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Men’s Indoor Coach of the Year (2010-12)
• Two-time U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Men’s Outdoor Coach of the Year (2012-13)
• Men’s NCAA Indoor and Outdoor National Championships (2012)
• Women’s SEC Indoor Championship (2012)
• Team USA Coach at the 2012 London Olympics
This story appears in FCA Magazine’s July/August 2014 issue. Subscribe today!
“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” – Psalm 133:1 (NIV)
For all the awards and championships highlighting his résumé, Mike Holloway earns each victory in service to his faith. The Florida men’s and women’s track and field and cross country coach shows a fervent dedication to every athlete who comes through the program, fueled by a desire to discover their very best.
FCA: How did you get into coaching?
MH: When I was younger I was never sure what I wanted to do, but I kept gravitating towards athletics because I wanted to help people. Then I got into coaching, and it just felt right. My coaches were teachers—we didn’t learn just track and field stuff; we learned life lessons all the time. I always felt God wanted me to be a track and field coach and be involved with young folks.
FCA: How do you incorporate your faith into coaching?
MH: I’m not out there with my Bible preaching every day, but it’s very important to me that they understand I’m very spiritual, I’m a true believer and I feel that God’s in charge of everything I do. I talk to them about how God gives us all a special talent, and it’s our job to build upon it and sharpen that talent so it doesn’t become dull and go away.
I’ve had athletes coming into the program who weren’t very spiritual, and before they left the program were sitting in the stands reading Scripture with me before and after meets. That’s what is special. Through my faith, I’ve been able to pull others in and help them understand that, through God, everything’s possible.
FCA: What do you hope your athletes learn from you each season?
MH: I want them to understand that I loved them and cared about them as people. I didn’t look at them and see points and a number. I saw a young person who was trying to develop, who was trying to become a better person. I hope they know that we supported everything they did.
It’s important that young people can be around positive groups of folks. When I’m recruiting, I tell them this isn’t about you coming here and just running faster and jumping higher, it’s about you becoming a better person. You’re going to walk in these doors as a young person, and you’re going to walk out of here grown, with the values to survive in life.
FCA: How does your faith help you fulfill that mission?
MH: One of my goals when I became head coach here was that I wanted to leave this program in a better spot than it was when I took over. I pray before I write my workouts. I pray before we go to meets. I’m asking for God to allow us to do our best. That’s all I ever ask for.
I have my moments where I get angry and my moments where I have to ask for forgiveness. In those moments of weakness I’ll stop in the middle of practice and say a prayer. In the end, I just want to be known as a guy who showed up every day and worked his tail off to help make this university and the student-athletes better.
FCA: What do all of your professional accomplishments mean in comparison to your faith?
MH: I’ve had some wonderful things in my life, but there is an incredible feeling I get when I’m in church, when I read certain Scripture, when I listen to my pastor speak. There’s nothing compared to that. The greater my faith in God has become, the better coach, husband and father I’ve become.
FCA Staff Quote:
“Coach Holloway is a God-fearing man who always puts the Lord first in all he does. He is never ashamed to tell people to trust in God and everything else will fall in place.”
Ashley Usery, Field Associate, North Central Florida FCA
Photos courtesy of UF Communications
--This article appears in the July/August 2014 issue of FCA Magazine. To view the issue in its entirety digitally, click here: http://bit.ly/fcamagvol56issue4
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