Mark Hollis
	Position: Athletics Director

"We gather and engage our community to teach, support and celebrate our student-athletes in their quest for excellence."

This is the vision Mark Hollis has for the Michigan State Athletics Department. A Michigan State graduate and veteran Spartan athletics administrator, Hollis assumed the role of MSU's 18th athletics director on Jan. 1, 2008, succeeding Ron Mason.

Hollis has more than 20 years of athletics administration experience, either at the school or conference level. His well-rounded background has led to his knowledge of all areas within an athletics department, including marketing, financial administration, television negotiations, fund-raising, game operations, facility management, personnel policy, corporate interaction, sports management and public relations.

A 1985 MSU graduate, Hollis returned to his alma mater in 1995. Since then, he has been a critical component of the athletic department executive management staff, helping guide the department through short- and long-range plans. In addition, Hollis is chair of the Division I Amateurism Cabinet, a member of the NCAA's Men's Basketball Issues Committee and a member of the Division I Men's Basketball Committee.

Hollis' leadership guided the Spartans to another excellent year in 2011-12, and he was rewarded for his efforts by being named the 2012 Athletic Director of the Year by Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal/Daily.

The 49-year-old Hollis is credited with developing some of college athletics' most innovative events. It was his vision that led to Michigan State playing North Carolina in November 2011 in the first basketball game to be played on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. In 2003, Hollis was the architect of the "BasketBowl," which established a then-world record crowd of 78,129 who witnessed the Michigan State-Kentucky game at Detroit's Ford Field. The concept, which involves placing the court in the center of a football stadium, has been used at the last four NCAA Final Fours.

In 2001, Hollis helped mastermind the Michigan State-Michigan outdoor hockey game that attracted a then-world record crowd of 74,554 in Spartan Stadium. As a result, the number of outdoor hockey games has steadily increased, and on Jan. 1, 2013, the NHL's Winter Classic comes to state of Michigan with the intent of breaking another attendance record.

On the playing field in 2011-12, Michigan State won three Big Ten Championships (women's cross country, men's basketball and women's golf), bringing the total to 15 conference championships since Hollis was appointed athletics director in 2008. In addition, the Spartan football team won the 2011 Big Ten Legends Division title and played in the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game. Michigan State became bowl eligible for a school-record fifth consecutive year and finished ranked No. 10 in the final USA TODAY Coaches Poll after tying the school single-season record with 11 wins, including a dramatic 33-30 triple-overtime victory over Georgia in the 2012 Outback Bowl.

The men's basketball team captured a share of the conference regular-season championship, won the 2012 Big Ten Tournament title, and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the 10th time in the last 15 seasons. During Hollis' tenure, MSU has appeared in 15 consecutive NCAA Tournaments - the longest current streak among Big Ten schools and the third longest in the nation.

Often recognized for thinking outside the box, Hollis raised some eyebrows when he hired former CCHA Commissioner Tom Anastos as hockey coach in March 2011. In his first year behind the bench, Anastos led the Spartans to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2008.

Overall, nine sports participated in their respective team NCAA Championships, while individuals competed in five more NCAA Championships. The Spartan volleyball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007, while the women's basketball team earned its fourth-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. The women's cross country team placed 16th in the NCAA Championships - its best finish since 2008 - and the women's golf team reached the NCAA Championships for the eighth time in the past 13 years. Thirty-one members of the MSU track and field qualified for the NCAA Regionals, with seven advancing to the NCAA Championships. In addition, the women's rowing team made its 14th appearance in the 15-year history of the NCAA Rowing Championships and the baseball team earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1979. The Spartans finished 34th overall in the 2011-12 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings.

During his tenure, Michigan State student-athletes have excelled not only in competition, but in the classroom as well. In the spring of 2012, the athletics department posted the highest grade-point average in program history with a 3.0644. It marks the third consecutive semester that student-athletes have posted better than a 3.0 cumulative GPA. The department also set another benchmark as 17 teams achieved a 3.0 or higher term GPA during the spring semester. Additionally, 241 student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten honors throughout the academic year, including 57 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars (min. 3.7 GPA).

Spartan athletic facilities have been upgraded at an unprecedented rate the past decade, and will only continue to improve under Hollis. This season, Spartan Stadium will have a remarkably different look with the addition of new scoreboards, giving Michigan State one of the top video board systems in the nation. The $10 million project features a 130-foot tall structure in the south end zone with a 5,300-square-foot video board; the previous board, which was installed in 1998, was only 567-square feet. There are two video boards in the north end zone, each measuring 1,750-square feet, in addition to a 4,500-square-foot LED ring (450 feet long and 10 feet high). The combined total for the south and north video boards is 13,300-square feet.

The Spartans moved into one of the nation's finest football facilities in August 2008, as a $15 million expansion and renovation project for the Duffy Daugherty Football Building was completed. MSU alumni Robert and Julie Skandalaris of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., donated $5 million as the lead gift for the facility expansion and upgrade. The Skandalaris Football Center includes new team, staff and position meeting rooms, coaches' offices and a hall of history. In addition, an expanded weight room was finished in September 2008 that increased the facility in size from 9,000 to 16,500-square feet.

Also in 2008, the men's and women's soccer programs opened DeMartin Stadium, a state-of-the-art 2,500-seat facility that enables MSU to host conference and national tournaments. The baseball program played its inaugural season in McLane Baseball Stadium in 2009 following a $4 million donation to the 2,500-seat ballpark by former Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. In 2011, with the help of a $1 million gift by alumnus Ambassador Peter F. Secchia - the largest cash (outright) gift received by an MSU women's intercollegiate sports program - Secchia Stadium, a 1,100-seat facility located at Old College Field, opened for the softball program.

In 2010-11, Michigan State had a record-setting year, winning five Big Ten Championships - the most in department history. The football team won a school-record 11 games and claimed the program's seventh Big Ten Championship en route to participating in the 2011 Capital One Bowl. The baseball team won its first Big Ten title since 1979, while the women's cross country, women's basketball and women's golf teams also won conference championships.

In 2009-10, the men's basketball team advanced to the Final Four for the sixth time in the last 12 years and won its second-straight Big Ten regular-season title, field hockey captured both the Big Ten regular-season and tournament championships, and the football team appeared in its third-straight bowl game.

One of Hollis' major goals upon becoming athletics director was accomplished in 2010 when he unveiled the new brand and identity program for the athletics department. All of Michigan State's uniforms now incorporate consistent use of colors, logos, lettering and numerals along with standardization for logos. Throughout the project, equal attention was devoted to maintaining an appreciation for the traditions of the past, while positioning the athletics program for the future. The brand and identity program for Michigan State Athletics was a result of nearly a two-year collaborative effort between the athletics department and Nike that included input from university and athletic administration, coaches and student-athletes. Michigan State was also selected to participate in the 2011 Nike Football Pro Combat system of uniforms, which the Spartans wore during their victory over Michigan on Oct. 15.

In Hollis' first full season as athletics director in 2008-09, Michigan State enjoyed one of its most successful years of the decade with a 27th-place finish in the Directors' Cup, the best showing for the department since 2003 and the third highest in the department's history. Ten teams earned bids to their respective NCAA Championships, led by men's basketball , which reached the national title game against North Carolina while also winning the Big Ten regular-season championship.

Hollis was named athletics director-designate on Sept. 12, 2007, and teamed with Mason in the transition throughout the fall of 2007. Prior to his official appointment as athletics director, Hollis played a lead role in two significant head coaching searches during the 2006-07 year. He spearheaded the effort to hire Mark Dantonio as football coach, which has resulted in five consecutive bowl appearances for the program and a Big Ten Championship in 2010. He also provided major assistance in the hiring of women's basketball coach Suzy Merchant in the spring of 2007, who led the Spartans to the Sweet 16 in 2009 and has brought MSU to four-straight NCAA Tournaments. Hollis' first hire as athletics director arrived on July 2, 2008, when he tabbed Jake Boss Jr. to direct the Spartan baseball program; in just three seasons, Boss won a Big Ten title in 2011, the first for the program in 32 years, then followed in 2012 by guiding MSU to the NCAA Tournament.

As a senior associate athletics director, Hollis oversaw all external relations for the MSU athletics department, including marketing and promotions, community relations, special event fund-raising, sports information, ticket operations, spirit groups, broadcast services and corporate sponsorships. In 2002, Hollis was named recipient of the National Marketer of the Year Award as selected by the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA).

On Oct. 13, 2005, Michigan State University and WJR - 760 AM announced a five-year agreement to carry Spartan football and men's basketball games, along with coaches' radio shows. The successful partnership led to the announcement on Jan. 19, 2010, of a 10-year extension through 2020. Hollis played a leading role in finding MSU athletics a home on the 50,000-watt Detroit radio station, known as the "Great Voice of the Great Lakes." The agreement has benefited more than just athletics as WJR regularly promotes the academic accomplishments of the university in addition to broadcasting sporting events.

Prior to returning to Michigan State, Hollis spent two years at the University of Pittsburgh as assistant and associate athletic director. Before his stint at Pitt, Hollis worked for the Western Athletic Conference. He joined the WAC as an administrative assistant immediately after college. Two years later, he was appointed assistant to the commissioner and soon thereafter was promoted to assistant commissioner.

Hollis earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in communication from Michigan State in 1985, where he served as a basketball team manager under Jud Heathcote. In 1992, he earned his MBA in business administration from the University of Colorado.

He and his wife Nancy, have a daughter, Katy, and two sons, T.R. and Michael.