I CAN’T THINK of any coach — or athlete for that matter — who wrote an autobiography in the prime of his career, especially since there’s undoubtedly much more to come in that career. So, when Mike “Mouse” Holloway, the highly successful coach of the men’s and women’s teams at the University of Florida, puts pen to paper to tell his life story, one has to take notice.
The bulk of the book centers around how those Gator teams did each year from 2002 to the present — the SEC championships and the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships, and recognizing those athletes who were most instrumental in team scoring. This is an understandable focus of the book, as any college track coach has to be concerned with winning and losing. The roster of those athletes is pretty impressive: Grant Holloway (no relation, and a certain future Hall-of-Famer), Christian Taylor (another certain HOFer), Will Claye, Rickey Harris, Kerron Clement, Tony McQuay, Jeff Demps, to name a few. Mouse became head of the women’s program too after the death of Tom Jones. Parker Valby, Grace Stark, Jasmine Moore, Anna Hall, Talitha Diggs and Cory McGee are a few of the outstanding athletes developed in that program.
National titles did not come easy in those early years. Track powers from Arkansas, Texas A&M and LSU provided enormous roadblocks every year until ’12 and ’13 when Florida men won back-to-back outdoor titles (co-champs in ’13). The Gator men’s programs have gone on to win a total of 7 NCAA outdoor championships since ’12, certainly the most impressive collegiate coaching record in the last decade or so.
Unfortunately, Mouse’s account does not shed much light on why Florida’s men’s teams have done so well. Great recruiting, good assistant coaches, yes, but I had hoped for more about the “secret” of his success and why Holloway must be such a good coach. All I gleaned from the book is that he must be a charismatic, determined leader who is also a good listener — to his athletes and to fellow coaches. Still I don’t really get from the book what sets the Florida program apart from others.
So who is Mouse Holloway and how did he get to where he is today? He grew up in a rough part of Columbus, Ohio: “I was surrounded by… negativity every day. It was like I was in the movie Groundhog Day; I woke up each day knowing there would be some sort of drama.”
With a father not always in the picture, his mother was the family linchpin. He was Ohio state champion in the hurdles, but soon left community college in Florida through lack of inspiration. After knocking around for some time in dead-end jobs, his life changed when he was recruited to coach a club team. From there it was a common progression of successful coaches: high school assistant coach, head coach, and then Florida assistant (under Doug Brown), then finally head coach when Brown was let go. That Mouse has made the most of those opportunities is undeniable, certainly an inspiration to the track & field world.
One reason to write an autobiography at this point in your career is to get something off your chest, and Mouse’s thoughts about racism and the George Floyd tragedy are expressed in a powerful and moving essay that he co-wrote for the Florida website and is reproduced in this book.
#THEHOLLOWAY is available from Amazon for $14.99.
