In praise of Mike Holder

The easiest presumption of Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder is that he’s a pompous, scathing businessman who hit the college athletics lottery when he and Boone Pickens converged on the same project at the same time (Karsten Creek) and realized they had an affinity for one another.

That would also be the incorrect presumption.

I was reading this post on MGoBlog about the ways in which Michigan’s athletic director, Dave Brandon, has handled the Brady Hoke Situation and its messier than the love child of a Mike Yurcich offense and a Travis Ford offense. I mean really, go read that stuff.

It’s hard to imagine Holder responding like that or carrying himself in that manner.

When he spoke at the post-Lubbock Marcus Smart press conference it was pretty clear who the leader in the room was and that was only punctuated by how he handled the Sports Illustrated Scandal.

I had a buddy text me on Tuesday that he emailed Holder about the students leaving Homecoming games at halftime Holder not only responded (not an anomaly in the OSU athletic department, by the way) but said the idea was discussed at a meeting and might be deployed in 2015.

Who cares if that’s even true or not — the man knows how to galvanize a fan base and I don’t think he gets enough credit for that.

Heck, when I was in college I emailed Holder about how I thought OSU should have black football uniforms (I know you’re shocked by this) and he sent me a short (but thoughtful) response.

So for all the grief college administrators get — much of it is deserved — and for the ways I’ve heard Mike Holder discussed (and talked about him myself) I don’t think he gets nearly enough credit for being somebody who’s thoughtful and creative in his craft.

Now if we can just figure out that Travis Ford contract…