Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Tom Holmoe decided to retire as BYU's athletic director last July.
- Holmoe's tenure included four national championships and Big 12 conference membership.
- The search for his successor has begun, with a national search and notable internal candidates considered.
PROVO — Tom Holmoe made the decision to retire in July, after several years of reflection, thought and prayer with his wife, Lori.
He didn't tell anyone except his four children — and even they didn't believe it.
But when the BYU athletic director of the past 20 years told university president Shane Reese and advancement vice president Keith Vorkink two weeks after the Cougars' 11-2 football season ended with confetti at the Alamo Bowl, he already knew the time was right.
"I think my bosses wanted me to give them a little more time, maybe a year," Holmoe said Wednesday while seated next to Reese during a press conference to speak on his decision. "I didn't feel like I could do that; so, sorry, president.
"Whether we go 0-12 or 12-0 in football, this was my last season," he added. "But we're not going to go 0-12; I knew it. If I had said something early on, it would've been a big distraction for our football team and other teams. But through the spring, I knew we were going to have a good football team."
Holmoe always figured he'd know when the time was right to step aside and allow a new voice to take over to guide athletics at the flagship university of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
For years, Tom and Lori Holmoe had thought the time was close, continuing forward for "one more year."
Every August, Holmoe kept going back and signing a new contract for another year — just like he's done at the start of every season for the past two decades, oftentimes sight unseen but never with a multi-year guarantee.
This time, he won't sign another one.
"Sometime this summer, I had a really strong impression that it was time," he said. "I had talked to some people through long years, and they would say, 'You'll know when the time is right.' And it was in July."
If Reese, Vorkink and the university's board of trustees that include senior church leadership need him through the end of his contract, he'll be available. If not, he'll look to finish out his time with the Cougars selling nachos in the Smith Fieldhouse, he joked.
For the past two decades, though, the former BYU defensive back who went on to a coaching career at Stanford, California and with the NFL's San Francisco 49ers before returning a third time as an associate athletic director at his alma mater in 2002 has been more than a concessions salesman.
Holmoe has presided over some of the biggest moments in BYU history, a 20-year run that includes four national championships, 133 conference regular-season and tournament titles, more than 350 individual All-American accolades, and — perhaps the biggest of all — inclusion in college sports' so-called "power conferences" with membership in the Big 12.
There will never be another athletic director quite like Holmoe, Reese noted.
"I don't think you ever replace a man like Tom Holmoe," said the 14th president of BYU who is entering his third year. "I think there's a successor in this role, but Tom Holmoe is an irreplaceable athletic director.
"You look at the path that we've trod as an athletic department, through independence and entry into the Big 12, it's a remarkable tribute to an incredible career."
Reese said the search for Holmoe's successor has already begun, a national search that will draw plenty of qualified candidates — several of whom are currently on campus that likely includes deputy athletic director Brian Santiago and associate athletic directors Liz Darger and Chad Lewis, among others.
Whoever takes over the office occupied by Holmoe for the past two decades will inherit a rising power conference program in a revolutionary era in college athletics, with revenue sharing likely coming via House v. NCAA settlement in addition to ongoing changes related to name, image and likeness and the transfer portal.
But change and transition are customary at BYU, especially under Holmoe's administration.
"In this exciting era in college sports, there are mountains ahead," Reese said. "BYU and BYU athletics will always be unique in how they conduct themselves."
Whatever's next for Holmoe, he doesn't plan to go far. He admitted that Provo has become home for the La Crescenta, California, native who came to BYU in 1978 to play for Hall of Fame coach LaVell Edwards, converted to the church, and spent a lifetime working in sports, both professional and collegiate.
The Holmoes raised their children in Utah — some even attended nearby Provo High, on the plot of land now called the BYU West Campus on the corner of University Avenue and Cougar Boulevard. Their 10 grandchildren, with one on the way, played in "Papa's play place," which is a family nickname for the Cougars' $9 million indoor practice facility built in 2003.
Mostly, though, Holmoe doesn't plan to stray far from BYU athletics.
"I'll be in the stands with some of our donors, sponsors and friends of Cougar Nation," he said. "And I'll have plenty of opinions that I probably can't really say right now as the AD."
