Gators coach winning with holistic approach

By Romaine Soh for DyeStat 

Florida head coach Mike Holloway works with his athletes for only two hours a day. 

During that time, he imparts basic life skills to them and makes sure they are working on reaching their athletic potential, keeping their academics straight and working on being a better person. 

“I’m a strong believer that the better person you are, the better potential you have to be a good athlete,” said Holloway, in his 10th year as the Gators’ combined men's and women's head coach. He has coached the men since 2003.

Florida has finished no worse than second outdoors in seven of the past eight years, with titles coming in 2012, 2013 and last season. (Arkansas vacated titles in 2004 and 2005 due to academic violations, but they have not been awarded to any other school. Florida was second both years). 

At last year’s NCAA outdoor championships, the sprinters, jumpers and hurdlers amassed 58 of the Gators’ 62 points, guiding them to their sixth overall title – indoor and outdoor – title under Holloway. 

Post-collegiate athletes Christian Taylor, Will Claye and Kerron Clement continue to carry on Florida’s legacy in their professional careers. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Taylor defended his triple jump title, Clement won gold in the 400-meter hurdles and Claye took the silver in the triple jump. 

Even though the Gators started from humble beginnings, they have built a rich history in the jumps and hurdles over the past decade. Florida now boasts five long jumpers who have surpassed the 8-meter barrier (26 feet, 3 inches) and six triple jumpers who have bounded over 16.30 meters (53-5.75). 

Coach Holloway’s belief in bettering the person in order to become a better athlete was what convinced freshman hurdler Grant Holloway, a high school star from Grassfield, Va., to sign with the Gators in his pursuit of becoming an Olympic champion. 

“He connected to me on a personal level other than just track,” said Grant Holloway, no relation to the coach. 

“He promised me to better me as a man. I’ve been here for seven months and I can see myself changing. I’m more caring to others, more polite. (I’m) just having fun with the situation and not taking anything too seriously.” 

Initially, Holloway signed with the Gators with the option of walking on to the football team, but he has since given up that option to put his full focus on track. 

That decision seems to have paid off. Holloway is currently the fastest in the nation in the 60-meter hurdles at 7.58 seconds and also second in the nation in the long jump with a leap of 26-5. 

Although he won the pentathlon at last year’s New Balance Nationals Indoor, Holloway has not considered the decathlon, saying that he prefers to stick to his main events and help out in the relay, so he can help the team win. 

Additionally, Holloway has not shown interest in the pole vault, one of the disciplines of the indoor heptathlon and outdoor decathlon. 

“The multis is something that the athlete gravitates toward,” Mike Holloway said. 

Florida’s reputation in the sprints and jumps not only has the power to persuade a dual-sport athlete to walk away from the more lucrative prospects of football, but has also lured athletes abroad to pack up their bags and establish a life in the U.S. as they seek to improve. 

Jamaican high jumper Clayton Brown had no idea what Florida was like before he enrolled, since he had only visited Louisiana State and Kansas State. All he had to go on was what he read about the program online and the few conversations he had with jumps coach Nic Petersen. 

Brown eventually chose Florida out of blind faith, and since then, has fallen in love with the Gainesville campus, which he calls his “home away from home.” 

“Everyone treats me like family here,” said Brown, a freshman who currently tops the NCAA charts in the high jump. “My roommates, Grant Holloway and Justin Pacifico, we’re brothers.” 

Since moving to the U.S., Brown has improved by two inches in the high jump and 6.75 inches in the triple jump. He has a PR of 7-4.50 in the high jump and 53-7.50 in the triple jump. 

Brown said he is seeing steady improvements by the week, which have given him the confidence to shoot for higher goals, such as becoming the NCAA champion and a shot at representing his country at the IAAF World Championships in London in August. 

“Jumps are a sideline in Jamaica, but there’s more attention here,” Brown said. “Coach Nic is great. He encourages me, tells me to believe in myself. He knows how to bring out the best in me.” 

Coach Holloway has worked to foster a family atmosphere at Florida that extends from the freshman class all the way to world-class alums. 

Taylor, a double Olympic champion, said that he was convinced by his parents to go to Florida because they thought it was the best fit for him both academically and athletically. He had no regrets from the day he moved in. 

“I had the greatest roommates, beautiful weather and I clicked with my teammates very quickly,” Taylor said. 

Although Taylor struggled through the first six months after graduating six years ago due to a coach change and injury, he took lessons from his time at Florida to help ease into the professional track world. 

“I learned how to focus on the positives and the things I could control, which helped me grow as an athlete and person,” said Taylor, the world’s all-time No. 2 triple jumper. 

“This lesson is something I carry to my training and personal life to this day.”

Coach Holloway’s motto of having fun is another lesson that has been impressed on Taylor, which he said he would focus on if he ever went back to campus.

“You don’t realize you are in the ‘good old times’ until it passes,” Taylor said. “So enjoy each moment. Enjoy the heartbreak and the victories. These moments will be ones you carry with you for the rest of your lives.”