Tarleton State Track Camps
Head Cross Country and Track & Field Coach
CLAY HOLLAND
Clay Holland is entering his second season as the head coach of the Tarleton track and field and cross country programs in 2023-24. It will be Holland’s fifth season on the Tarleton coaching staff overall.
In his first season at the helm, six Texans won their events at the WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, three were medalists at the WAC Indoor Championships, and nine posted personal bests at the WAC Cross Country Championships.
Holland was named the head coach of Tarleton track and field and cross country on March 30, 2022, following a three-year run as the Texans' top assistant coach.
Holland now owns 15 years of coaching experience, including eight at the NCAA Division I level. He served as the program's interim head coach during the 2021-22 season and previously enjoyed assistant coaching tenures at Texas State (2009-2012) and University of Texas at Arlington (2012-2014).
"I'm truly blessed to be the next head coach of Tarleton cross country and track and field," Holland said. "This is a place I truly fell in love with four years ago. I never imagined Tarleton State being the place I call home, but after being here for four seasons, getting to know the athletes, the institution, the leadership, I'm extremely blessed to be here with this program."
"We are excited to have Clay as the next head coach of our cross country and track and field programs at Tarleton State University," said Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Lonn Reisman. "He brings a high-level, Division I mindset to our department following his time at Texas State and UTA, and the success he has had with our student-athletes during his time as the interim head coach. He's a high-character coach and I have no doubt that our men's and women's programs will have continued success at this level."
Holland has spearheaded Tarleton track and field from the NCAA Division II ranks into a fixture in the Western Athletic Conference.
While Holland was serving as the interim head coach, the Texans dazzled during the 2022 indoor season – his first in a head coaching role. Tarleton saw 11 athletes earn All-WAC first or second team accolades and broke 10 school records. The program continued to flash its immense short and long-term potential under Holland’s direction during the 2022 outdoor season. Holland coached 22 athletes to All-Western Athletic Conference first or second team honors. In total, 31 athletes combined to produce 46 new marks on the program’s all-time outdoor top-10 records list.
He worked directly with Tarleton's jumpers, sprinters, hurdlers, and multi-event athletes while recruiting all event groups in his first three years as an assistant coach.
During Tarleton’s debut Division I season in 2020-21, Holland coached a program-best 13 athletes to All-Western Athletic Conference accolades at the WAC Outdoor Championships in May. Additionally, three of Holland’s athletes were crowned conference champions: Jasmine McQuirter in the 100m dash, Gentrye Munden in the high jump and Alan Palmer in the long jump. McQuirter finished first at the meet with a personal record of 11.87 seconds while Munden and Palmer leapt past their WAC peers with respective marks of 5’ 6.5” and 24’ 11.75”. Palmer also earned All-WAC first team credentials with a second-place finish in the high jump (6’ 9.5”) as did Emily Castleberry-Simon in the heptathlon (2nd, 4,958 points) and Cornelius Coleman in the 110m hurdles (3rd, 14.46 seconds). For the season, Holland saw 15 of his athletes break into or improve their marks in the top-10 of Tarleton’s outdoor record book.
In his first season with Tarleton, he coached McQuirter to a national-qualifying season in the long jump. McQuirter finished 16th in the nation in the event with a leap of 18’ 11.75’’.
He followed up in 2019 by coaching a program-best five student athletes to the NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships in Birmingham, Alabama. The championships and the ensuing outdoor season were cancelled, however, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Holland came to Tarleton with 10 years of experience coaching Track & Field, including Division I experience as a student-athlete and coach.
Holland was a four-year student-athlete at Texas State University from 2005-09, where he served as the team captain for his final two seasons. When he finished his last season as an athlete, he was hired onto the coaching staff as a graduate assistant where he coached hurdles, combined events and jumps.
He was promoted to assistant coach at Texas State in 2010, where he coached combined events, jumps, hurdles and relays along with being the assistant recruiting coordinator. He helped coach 11 All-Southland Conference Athletes and six NCAA National Qualifiers. Holland spent time at University of Texas Arlington as the events manager from 2011-13 and Gordon High School from 2013-15.
Holland was previously an assistant coach for the Track & Field team at Texas Lutheran University. He coached sprints, hurdles, high jump and multi events. At his time at Texas Lutheran, he coached 59 All-SCAC Conference athletes, 13 Conference Champions, nine NCAA National Qualifiers, five NCAA All-Americans and was named the USTFCCCA All-South/Southeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year.
He graduated from Junction High School in 2004 and earned his bachelor's in Exercise and Sports Science at Texas State University.
His wife, Whitney Holland, is an alumna of Tarleton. They have a daughter, Lakelyn, and a son, Hayes.