Warrior standout Holder Takes program’s reigns

Reece Rutland- Rend Lake College Media Services

Tommy Holder has carried many titles at Rend Lake College. He’s been a Warrior basketball standout, a graduate, the six-year assistant coach, academic advisor, tutoring administrator and instructor. But today, RLC is pleased to announce Holder has gained a new title, that of head men’s basketball coach.

Holder came to Rend Lake College in 2005 as a student. He was offered a basketball scholarship to the college after playing in the Lion’s Club All-Star Game at RLC. Unfortunately, Holder was injured during that initial season, so he redshirted. He came back with a vengeance and was a force for the Warriors in his first year of eligibility in 2006.

“I had a pretty successful year. I had a very good year as far as personal performance. That second year I played, the team had much more success. So, with the team improving, my stats dipped a bit because we had some other guys step up and perform at a high level. But, that’s what it’s all about,” Holder explained.

Following his career at RLC, Holder had an opportunity to go on, playing a season at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Community Recreation.

After his graduation, Holder went on to take an assistant coaching position at Brehm Preparatory School in Carbondale where the team found a lot of success.

“We sent kids all over the country to play at the next level. We had players go to Vanderbilt, Oregon, Louisville, Minnesota and a bunch of other colleges. It was a great program. But, after our third year at the school, we were told there would no longer be a basketball program,” he explained.

Luckily, Holder had maintained communication with several of coaches in the Great Rivers Athletic Conference as well has his former college coach, now Rend Lake College Athletic Director Tim Wills.

Wills had recently transitioned from head coach to AD the year before and brought in Benton-native Randy House to lead the program, but the college was searching for a quality assistant coach to help lead the Warriors.

“Randy is a great guy. He didn’t have an assistant at the time. So, Tim thought it would be a good fit. Randy invited me in. We did an interview. I watched the team play in the region tournament that year. We talked about our philosophies. One of my biggest priorities was making sure I was going to be able to be hands on and active in coaching. All the stuff Randy said clicked with what I wanted. So I joined on. We ended up taking RLC to nationals for the first time in school history. And then, we followed that season up by recruiting some more talented kids, making it back to nationals and winning the whole thing,” he said.

Holder always saw coaching as his future. In high school, he said he was too realistic to plan for the NBA, but at the same time, he wanted to carry basketball with him for as long as he could. He said he knew in the back of his mind, even if he got the opportunity to play at higher levels, coaching was his best option to say around the game for the greatest length of time.

As far as his former coach and now boss is concerned, Holder is the right pick for the position.

“Tommy has been a part of this program for a number of years, first as a player and then serving a number of years as our assistant coach. He’s proven himself. He’s done a great job for us, and we are looking forward to what he can accomplish,” Wills stated.

“Any time a former player goes on and finds success, it’s rewarding. It’s great to see him succeed. Tommy was always going to be a coach. You could see it when he was a player. He just had such a high basketball knowledge. He knew where everyone was on the floor. He knew what to say to motivate his teammates. You could just tell he had a gift for it.”

“The thing about Tommy is he’s a Warrior. He’s a RLC guy. He’s got a history here, and I know he will do well. We are excited about the future.”

Holder shares that excitement. As the Warriors assistant coach he was able to develop his patience and learn to establish a methodical game plan from a “good Xs and Os coach” in House.

Now that the torch has been passed, Holder is ready to put everything he’s learned to practice, building upon his skillset of skill development, defensive fundamentals and passion-driven performance.

Most of all, Holder is looking forward to putting his own mark on the program by doing what he loves most, recruiting.

“Honestly, recruiting is one of my favorite aspects about coaching. The fact that you get to go recruit players that you think have potential and put them together to achieve something is really gratifying. You get to select kids that you believe in. When all the hard work is over, you get to see the fruits of your labor. Watching these players grow into their potential is just a great feeling,” the new head coach expressed.

Along those same lines, Holder is looking forward to being more hands-on with his student athlete’s academics as well. As a full-time academic advisor and instructor at the college, Holder has a passion for student success and wants to make sure RLC’s basketball Warriors are dominating on and off the court.

“I love Rend Lake. I’ve been dedicated to the school for the past six year serving as an assistant coach. I’m a graduate. I believe in the people that work here. I believe in the administration. I have great respect for President Wilkerson and Coach Wills. I’m a fan of doing things the right way, and that’s what this school is about. We put students first, and that’s what I’m about and want to be a part of,” Holder explained.