Florida’s Mike Holloway, the 2010 U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Men’s Indoor Head Coach of the Year, has been named the men’s staff assistant coach for sprints and hurdles for Team USA at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England, USA Track & Field announced on Thursday.
It is the first Olympic appointment for Holloway, who served as head coach for Team USA at the 2004 NACAC Under-23 Championships, where American athletes won 27 of the 40 athletes contested. He also was the men’s sprints and hurdles coaches for Team USA at the 2007 World Outdoor Championships in Osaka, Japan.
Holloway is the second current Florida head coach to be named to a U.S. Olympic coaching staff, as head swimming and diving coach Gregg Troy will be the head coach of Team USA at the 2012 Olympics.
“It is a great honor for Mike Holloway to be selected as a member of the coaching staff for the 2012 Olympic Team,” Florida athletics director Jeremy Foley said. “Mike has done a fantastic job at the University of Florida and has a proven track record of success working with Olympic-caliber athletes. We are very proud of our Gator Olympic tradition and look forward to Mike continuing that in 2012.”
Holloway is in his 16th season at the University of Florida and his ninth as the men’s head coach. He is in his fourth year directing the combined men’s and women’s program.
“It’s an incredible honor to be chosen by my peers to coach on the United States Olympic staff,” Holloway said. “It’s something that I am very proud of, and I look forward to serving my country.”
Holloway directed the Florida program to five top-10 national finishes out of six opportunities during the 2010 campaign. The men’s team captured its first NCAA Indoor Championship last March, finishing second outdoors, while the women’s team finished fourth indoors and third outdoors. The Gator men won the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championship last year for the first time since 1987, while the women won indoors. The UF women’s cross country team has won two consecutive league titles.
Since taking over as the head men’s track and field coach prior to the start of the 2003 season, Holloway has directed the Gator men to 11 NCAA top-10 finishes, while leading the women to five NCAA top-10 finishes since the start of the 2008 campaign.
Holloway is the fifth track and field coach with Florida ties to serve as part of an Olympic track and field staff. Former Gator head coach Jimmy Carnes was the head coach of the U.S. team in 1980.
The 2012 Team USA coaching staff also has another member with Gator ties as former Florida All-American thrower Tom Pukstys, a two-time Olympian javelin thrower, has been named the men’s staff assistant coach for throws for Team USA at the 2012 Olympic Games. Pukstys, a former assistant coach at Brown, lettered for the Gators from 1989-90 and competed in both the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games. Pukstys holds Florida’s school record in the javelin at 83.30m/273-3 and was a two-time All-American with a pair of fourth-place finishes at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
