The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Assistant Coach Tom Holliday
02.25.2005 | Baseball
Full name: Tom Holliday
Date of birth: March 5, 1953
Hometown: Uniontown, Pa.
High school: Uniontown
Junior college: Yavapai Junior College, 1973
College: University of Miami (Fla.), 1975
Family: Wife, Kathy; sons, Josh and Matt
When head coach Augie Garrido went looking for a pitching coach following the 2003 campaign, the answer to his search was Tom Holliday. With seven years experience as a head coach in the Big 12 Conference and 28 seasons of college baseball coaching tenure under his belt, Holliday had worked extensively with pitchers and in recruiting as 11 of the Oklahoma State teams in which he served as either pitching coach or head coach reached the College World Series (CWS). Hired to his post as UT's assistant coach in charge of pitching and team defense on July 1, 2003, Holliday now embarks on his third season at Texas in 2006.
In only two years on the Forty Acres, Holliday, who was tabbed the 2005 National College Pitching Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball, has aided the Longhorns pitching staff in not only posting ERAs that ranked among the top four nationally (2.66 in 2004 ranked No. 2; 2.80 in 2005 ranked No. 4) in both seasons, but also hold position among the top 15 team ERAs in school history. Additionally, while helping the Longhorns win their sixth national crown in 2005 and finish as the national runner-up in 2004, Holliday saw his hurlers tally a conference-best 612 strikeouts in 2004, which was the most for a UT pitching staff since 1985 (618), and his defense boast a school-record .978 fielding percentage, which tied for first in the country during the 2005 campaign. If that were not impressive enough, on his two pitching staffs at UT to date, nine pitchers have gone on to play professionally, three have claimed All-America honors and 10 have received All-Big 12 accolades, including J.P. Howell, who was tabbed the 2004 Big 12 Pitcher of the Year. He has also assisted the UT program in signing recruiting classes that ranked among the top three nationally in each of the past two seasons according to both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball.
Prior to joining the Longhorns coaching staff, Holliday played a key role in restoring the Oklahoma State program to the top of the collegiate game. He spent a total of 26 years in Stillwater, Okla., first as the pitching coach for Gary Ward and then as the program's head coach from 1997-2003. While an assistant in Stillwater, Holliday helped lead OSU to 40-win seasons in 18 of his 19 years, aided the Cowboys in reaching the CWS 10 times and guided the team into NCAA Tournament action on 17 occasions. In fact, three Oklahoma State teams from 1977 through 1996 finished as the national runner-up (1981, 1987, 1990) and Cowboys' pitching staffs during that span set single-season school team records for games (76 - 1984), wins (61 - 1984 & 1988), complete games (28 - 1981), shutouts (13 - 1984), saves (17 - 1985), innings pitched (607.2 - 1984), and strikeouts (538 - 1994). Additionally, upon his departure from Stillwater, all of the individual single-season and career pitching records for Oklahoma State, with the exception of ERA, are held by pitchers tutored by Holliday with six of those marks being Big Eight Conference records.
Following his highly-successful term as the Cowboys' pitching coach, Holliday then assumed the reigns of the program on Nov. 25, 1996, when he was named the 13th head coach in Oklahoma State baseball history. Once in charge, Holliday continued to find success as he guided the Cowboys to 35-win seasons in each of his first six years, led Oklahoma State to four NCAA Tournament berths as well as the program's 19th CWS appearance in 1999 after capturing regional and super regional titles that year, and compiled a 281-150 (.652) overall record during his seven seasons at the helm to rank third on OSU's all-time coaching wins list, trailing only Ward (953) and Toby Greene (318). Notably, with the Cowboys reaching Omaha in 1999 after posting a 46-21 record and finishing the year ranked eighth nationally, Holliday aided OSU in making 11 of its 19 CWS appearances (58%) and in earning top 25 finishes 19 times. Over his 26-year association with OSU, he also tutored nine All-Americans, 55 All-Conference performers, six Freshman All-Americans, two U.S. National Team members, 36 Academic All-Conference honorees and 155 players who went on to careers in professional baseball.
Coming out of Uniontown High School in Pennsylvania, Holliday began his collegiate career as a catcher and first baseman at Yavapai Junior College before transferring to the University of Miami (Fla.) prior to his junior year. In 1975, he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates and spent one year in their minor league system playing in Niagara Falls, N.Y., before electing to become a coach. He would begin his collegiate coaching career the very next season in 1976, serving as an assistant for his alma mater in Coral Gables, Fla. The following season, Holliday went to work at Arizona State as an assistant coach for the Sun Devils in their National Championship season of 1977. Two months after winning the national title at ASU, Holliday joined Ward's staff at Oklahoma State.
While in Stillwater, Holliday played a roll in over 60 pitchers being drafted into the Major Leagues, including 1999 National League Rookie of the Year Scott Williamson as well as Detroit Tigers' all-time saves leader Mike Henneman. A total of 14 of Holliday's pupils were also drafted during the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Drafts from 2003-05, including Longhorns All-American pitchers J.P. Howell, Huston Street and J. Brent Cox.
Widely regarded as a top-flight recruiter, Holliday was instrumental in both signing and working with numerous Oklahoma State players that went on to Major League careers. Among those on that list are Robin Ventura, Jeromy Burnitz, Pete Incaviglia, Doug Dascenzo and Mickey Tettleton.
A native of Uniontown, Pa., Holliday and his wife, Kathy, have two sons, Josh and Matt. Of note, Josh is currently an assistant coach at Georgia Tech and Matt is an outfielder for the Colorado Rockies.
