The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1419104
40 ■ THE WOLFPACKER That's been his goal ever since taking over the program he once swam for, bash- ing it with a wrecking ball and starting all over, with the hopes of building a highly competitive program built on a founda- tion of family. It was a dramatic approach for someone with no head coaching expe- rience, looking to restore the program's reputation for success that began just after World War II when Willis Casey was hired to establish a winning program. In more than two decades as a coach, Casey won titles and produced champions before turning the program over to Don Easterling, who set the bar even higher in his quarter-century as head coach. Easterling's teams once won 12 men's ACC titles in a row, a standard Holloway is now chasing. Holloway came to NC State as a stu- dent-athlete shortly after Easterling left and managed to have an exceptional career, earning six different All-America awards for a program that was in the beginning of a steady decline. The Pack never truly sank to the bottom, still producing NCAA and Olympic champion Cullen Jones during the 10-year tenure of Brooks Teal, but by the time director of athletics Debbie Yow came along in 2010, the program was not living up to its legacy of being at the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The men had qualified for just seven NCAA Cham- pionship meets in the previous 16 seasons and never finished in the top 20; the women had qualified just once in 16 seasons and finished 29th. Along came Holloway, who never let the limitations of an outdated facility and his own lack of head coaching experience dam up the works of rebuilding a nationally prominent program. He's won seven consecutive ACC men's titles, two women's league titles and taken both programs to their highest-ever fin- ishes at the NCAA Championships, while coaching 13 NCAA individual and relay champions. He's also produced more Olympians than any other coach in NC State history, including a record nine men's and women's swimmers at this summer's Tokyo Olym- pics to go along with the five men's swim- mers he sent to Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Half of NC State's total of Olympic swimmers were recruited and coached by Holloway. And, to be honest, that's his ultimate goal. "Kids who play football grow up and want to play in the NFL," Holloway said. "Kids who play basketball want to play in the NBA. Kids who play baseball want to play in the major leagues. "Swimmers want to go to the Olympics." Along the way, his swimmers have re- established the program's dominance in the ACC and re-emerged on that national stage. The men's team has finished in the CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER In His First Decade Back At His Alma Mater, Braden Holloway Has Led The Men's And Women's Swimming And Diving Programs To Historic Heights BY TIM PEELER an blue water be blue collar? It certainly is for NC State men's and women's swim- ming and diving coach Braden Holloway, who in his first 10 years at his alma mater has built one of the Wolfpack's most successful programs from down in the mud to up in the clouds. A native of Baton Rouge, La., Holloway spent as much of his time growing up fishing or hunting on the edge of the water as he did in it. That's where he developed the workaday mentality that has created Wolfpack championships, champions and Olympians. C