Gator Country

For the second consecutive year, Florida head coach Mike Holloway was named the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Men’s Indoor Head Coach of the Year, the New Orleans-based organization announced Friday.

Holloway directed the Gator men to their second consecutive NCAA Indoor Championship last weekend in College Station, Texas, as Florida totaled 52 team points for a 12-point victory over second-place Texas A&M. Florida became just the fourth different team in NCAA history to win indoor national titles in consecutive years, joining Arkansas, Kansas and UTEP. The Gators became the first team to accomplish that feat since Arkansas did so in 2005 and 2006.

Holloway, who also was the 2011 USTFCCCA South Region Men’s Indoor Head Coach of the Year and the 2011 Southeastern Conference Men’s Head Coach of the Year, directed the Gators to their first SEC Indoor Championship since the 2004 campaign. Florida claimed eight individual SEC titles en route to the team championship. The Gators were ranked No. 1 in the USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings all but one week during the 2011 indoor season.

Directly responsible for the sprints, hurdles and relays, Holloway coached sophomore sprinter Jeff Demps to his second consecutive NCAA Indoor Championship in the men’s 60-meter dash, clocking a school-record time of 6.53. Under Holloway’s direction, the head coach and his staff also mentored junior multi-event athlete Gray Horn to a fourth-place NCAA finish in the men’s heptathlon with a school-record score of 5,890.

At the SEC Indoor Championships, athletes directly coached by Holloway swept the short-sprint events. Demps won the men’s 60-meter dash in a time of 6.55, while freshman Eddie Lovett won the men’s 60-meter hurdles with the second-fastest time in school history at 7.73. Sophomore Tony McQuay claimed the men’s 200-meter dash with the fourth-fastest time in school history at 20.61, while the men’s 4x400-meter relay team also won the league championship in 2011 with an NCAA automatic-qualifying time of 3:05.51. 

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