Oklahoma State University Athletics
Staff Directory
- Title:
- Head Coach
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12 seasons at Oklahoma State
Career Record: 445-238-2 (.650)
2016 Midwest Regional Coach of the Year
2014 Big 12 Coach of the Year
Cowboy Baseball Under Josh Holliday
- 11 NCAA Regional Appearances
- 3 Super Regional berths
- 2016 College World Series
- 5-time Big 12 Conference champions – 2014, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2024
- Finished in top two of Big 12 standings eight times
- Two top-10 finishes in final national polls
- Coached 102 All-Big 12 Conference performers, 16 All-Americans, 3 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year winners, 2 Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honorees and 1 Big 12 Player of the Year
- 72 Major League Baseball Draft picks, with 33 of those selected in the top 10 rounds; 10 of those have played in the big leagues
Josh Holliday returned home to Stillwater in 2012 poised to lead the Oklahoma State baseball program back to national prominence, and he has done just that over the last dozen seasons.
Holliday took over OSU baseball on June 8, 2012, when he was named the 15th head coach in program history. The Oklahoma State alumnus and native of Stillwater had served the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at Vanderbilt and established himself as one of the nation’s top assistant coaches over a span of just over a decade.
“I’m very honored and very humbled to be given an opportunity to come back to OSU and return to a place that has meant so much to me and my family over the past 30-plus years,” Holliday said. “I’m excited about the unique opportunity to build a future with a program that celebrates and recognizes its proud history, embraces the current players and works towards a future that everyone will be proud of and unite behind.
“Our goal is going to be to approach every day with a tremendous amount of pride and discipline in becoming the best we can be in every facet of our lives, as coaches, as players and anyone involved with our kids. We’re going to work to win each day, and over the course of time we’re going to work to win a national championship. We’re going to do that together and do it in a way that enhances our players’ lives academically, socially and athletically. I hope that plan of attack and approach is going to train our players with an approach that will stay with them the rest of their lives.”
Holliday’s hire has paid huge dividends as he has led the OSU program back to national prominence in his first 12 seasons at the helm.
Since Holliday took over the reins, the Cowboys have never failed to make the postseason as he has guided them to 11 NCAA Regional appearances. During his tenure, the program has also celebrated five Big 12 Conference championships, including the program’s first-ever regular season title, three NCAA Super Regional berths and a return to the College World Series for the first time since his playing days in 1999.
Over the last 12 years, OSU has won 445 games, the second-highest win total among Big 12 teams during that span, and has finished first or second in the conference standings eight times. His win total ranks as the second highest in program history, trailing only Gary Ward’s 953.
OSU’s time under Holliday has also yielded 102 All-Big 12 Conference performers, 72 Major League Baseball Draft picks, 16 All-Americans, three Big 12 Newcomer of the Year winners, two Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honorees and a Big 12 Player of the Year.
The Cowboys have also raised their performance in the classroom under Holliday. OSU has earned the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award each of the last five years, posting a team grade point average above 3.0 from 2020-24.
During his tenure, the program has counted over 100 graduates, and a dozen of those graduated with honors.
OSU has had 148 Academic All-Big 12 performers under Holliday, including a conference-record 20 in 2021. In 2024, Nolan Schubart became the sixth Cowboy in program history to earn Academic All-America honors, and Zach Ehrhard was named OSU’s first-ever Big 12 Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
OSU is coming off a 2024 season in which the Cowboys posted a 42-19 record, leading the Big 12 in wins and marking their third-straight 40-win campaign. They were ranked as high as No. 14 in the final national polls.
The ’24 Cowboys had a long list of accomplishments, including:
• OSU won the Big 12 Championship title, marking the sixth Big 12 crown in program history and its fourth tourney title.
• The Cowboys earned an 11th consecutive NCAA Regional bid, marking the fourth longest streak in the nation, and was selected as a Regional host for the third-straight year, the only program in the nation to host each of the last three years.
• Three Cowboys - Carson Benge, Brian Holiday and Nolan Schubart - earned All-America honors. Nine players collected All-Big 12 honors.
• OSU ranked in the top 10 nationally in numerous categories, including home runs, walks, strikeouts (pitching), strikeout-to-walk ratio and WHIP. The Cowboys led the Big 12 in homers, runs, RBIs and walks.
• Eight Cowboys were selected in the MLB Draft, the third most of any program in the nation, and Carson Benge was the 20th first-round pick in program history.
In 2023, the Cowboys went 41-20 and captured a share of the Big 12 regular season championship with a 15-9 mark. OSU was also an NCAA Regional host for the fifth time under Holliday and was the No. 11 national seed in the tourney.
Three Cowboys — Nolan Schubart, Roc Riggio and Isaac Stebens — earned All-America honors in 2023, and Schubart and Carson Benge were tabbed Freshman All-Americans.
OSU also tied a program record with nine combined first- and second-team All-Big 12 selections, and the Cowboys had the Big 12 Freshman of the Year in Schubart and Newcomer of the Year in Tyler Wulfert.
The 2023 team posted a .301 team batting average and slugged 108 home runs, its most since 1999, while the pitching staff topped 600 strikeouts for the second consecutive season.
OSU had six players selected in the 2023 MLB Draft, with five of those taken in the first 10 rounds.
In 2022, OSU posted a 42-22 record, finishing second in the Big 12 Conference standings (one game out of first) and was awarded the No. 7 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, its highest ever. The Cowboys advanced to an NCAA Regional final for the sixth time under Holliday.
The 2022 season also saw three Cowboys - Justin Campbell, Jake Thompson and Nolan McLean - earn All-America honors, while Roc Riggio was a Freshman All-American. Twelve Pokes collected All-Big 12 accolades.
Nine OSU players heard their names called in the 2022 MLB Draft, and the nine draft picks tied for third most in Division I in ’22 and were the fourth most in program history. A record seven of those Cowboy draft picks were selected in the top 10 rounds.
Holliday led the Cowboys to the NCAA Tucson Regional in 2021 in a season that saw him record his 300th career win and guide OSU to the Big 12 Championship title game for the fifth time in eight tournaments. The season also saw the program add two more All-Americans to its list in Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Justin Campbell.
OSU ended the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season 13-5, which came on the heels of a 2019 season in which it finished 41-20 and advanced to its third NCAA Super Regional under Holliday, where the Cowboys were one win shy of a College World Series berth. The Pokes finished No. 11 in the final national rankings.
After winning the 2019 Big 12 Championship title, the program’s 33rd conference crown, the Cowboys were awarded the No. 9 national seed in the NCAA Tournament and were the top seed at the NCAA Oklahoma City Regional, which OSU hosted at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Pokes would claim the Regional championship, their third under Holliday, to advance to the NCAA Lubbock Super Regional.
Other notable accomplishments for the 2019 club include:
• Nine Cowboys earned All-Big 12 honors.
• OSU swept a three-game series at No. 2 Oregon State, marking the first time the defending NCAA champion Beavers had been swept on their home field since 2010.
• The Cowboys hit 93 home runs, the fourth most in the NCAA in 2019 and the highest total by an OSU team since 1999.
• OSU hit a school-record 12 home runs in its series opener at Kansas. The Cowboys’ 12 round trippers in the 27-6 win tied for the fourth most in a single game in NCAA history.
In 2018, OSU finished second in the Big 12 standings, just one win shy of a title, as they swept four conference series. The Cowboys had 11 all-conference performers, including Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Matt Kroon, and earned a berth in the NCAA DeLand Regional where they advanced to the finals.
OSU made history in 2017 when it became the first No. 8 seed in Big 12 history to win the conference tournament. The Cowboys went 4-0 at the tourney to secure the league’s automatic NCAA Regional bid.
Holliday began laying a foundation for success immediately and that culminated with the Cowboys returning to Omaha and the College World Series in 2016.
OSU’s impressive ’16 run saw the Pokes make their 20th College World Series appearance, and Holliday became one of only 17 people in NCAA history to reach the CWS as both a player and head coach after playing for OSU teams in 1996 and 1999 that advanced to Omaha.
Holliday, who was named the 2016 ABCA/Diamond Midwest Regional Coach of the Year, guided OSU to a 43-22 overall record, and the Cowboys finished the season ranked No. 4 in the final national polls.
Other 2016 highlights:
• OSU went 7-0 in their first seven NCAA Tournament games and never trailed in any of those contests as they went 3-0 at the NCAA Clemson Regional before winning the first two games of the NCAA Columbia Super Regional against South Carolina to advance to the CWS. The Cowboys then won their first two games in Omaha, both by 1-0 counts to mark the first time in history a team recorded back-to-back 1-0 shutouts at the CWS.
• For the first time in program history, OSU swept three Big 12 road series in a single season.
• Nine Cowboys earned All-Big 12 honors, while Thomas Hatch was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year.
• OSU had two players — Hatch and Donnie Walton — achieve All-America status.
• A program record 11 players were selected in the 2016 Major League Baseball Draft. That total marked the third most of any Division I program in 2016.
OSU’s magical 2016 season continued a winning trend that Holliday established immediately in his first season in 2013 when he led the Cowboys to a 41-19 record and the finals of the NCAA Louisville Regional.
OSU’s 41 wins in 2013 was its most since 2008, and the Cowboys’ second-place finish in the Big 12 Conference was also its best in five years.
Under Holliday’s direction, the Cowboys won five of their eight Big 12 series, including four in a row to end the season.
Among the other highlights in year one of the Holliday era were:
• OSU was nationally ranked for the final 13 weeks of the season. The Cowboys climbed to as high as No. 12 and finished the season with a high ranking of 19th.
• The Cowboys had 18 come-from-behind wins.
• OSU had 11 players garner All-Big 12 accolades, its most since 2008.
• The OSU pitching staff recorded its lowest ERA since 1973, while the Cowboys led the Big 12 in doubles and walks and ranked second in batting average, slugging percentage, home runs and on-base percentage.
OSU’s second season under Holliday was even better, and he became the first-ever Cowboy skipper to be named the Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year.
In 2014, the Cowboys went 48-18, marking the most wins for the program since 1994. OSU captured the Big 12 regular season crown with an 18-6 mark, then went on to win the NCAA Stillwater Regional championship and advance to the NCAA Stillwater Super Regional, its first Super Regional appearance since 2007.
OSU was ranked in the national polls throughout the 2014 campaign and finished the year ranked 10th in each of the final national polls, its first top 10 final ranking since 1999.
The 2014 season also saw the Cowboys:
• Record 28 come-from-behind wins.
• Win their final seven Big 12 Conference series .
• Turn in a 12-game winning streak, its longest since 2008.
• Host an NCAA Regional at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium for the first time since 2008.
• Rank in the top 10 nationally in five categories, including home runs, walks, sacrifice bunts and winning percentage.
Further adding to the accolades, 2014 also saw a pair of Cowboys — Brendan McCurry and Zach Fish — earn All-America honors. Fish was named the Big 12 Player of the Year and was one of 11 Cowboys to garner All-Big 12 accolades, which included a school-record six first-team honorees.
The success continued in year three of the Holliday era as OSU went 38-20 and hosted an NCAA Regional for the second-straight year.
Other 2015 highlights included:
• OSU finished second in the Big 12 Conference regular season standings, marking the third consecutive year the Cowboys finished in the top two of the league.
• OSU finished as high as No. 17 in the final national polls, earning that ranking from D1Baseball.
• The Cowboys were ranked in at least one national poll every week of the 2015 season, running their streak of consecutive weeks in the national rankings to 48 dating back to 2013. They peaked at No. 5 in the polls in ’15.
• Michael Freeman became the 23rd player in OSU history to be named a first-team All-American and the second to earn Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Year honors.
• The Cowboys ranked eighth nationally in ERA. Their 2.84 ERA was the lowest by an OSU pitching staff since 1973.
Holliday is the first former OSU player to serve as the program’s head coach. A four-year letterwinner for the Cowboys from 1996-99, Holliday was a starter on Cowboy teams that made four NCAA Tournament appearances and reached the College World Series in 1996 and 1999.
During a career that spanned 256 games, which ranks second all time at OSU, Holliday compiled a career .311 batting average to go along with 53 home runs, 62 doubles and 237 RBIs. He was inducted into the OSU Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.
Holliday’s name is prominent throughout the OSU record book. He is OSU’s all-time leader in base on balls with 225 and also ranks in the top five on the Cowboys’ career lists in games, at bats, runs, hits, doubles, total bases, RBIs and hit by pitches. He also ranks seventh all-time in homers.
Holliday was a three-time All-Big 12 performer, earning first-team honors in 1998 (at catcher) and 1999 (at third base). He was a second-team selection as a utility player in 1997 and was named the Big Eight Conference Freshman of the Year and a Freshman All-American in 1996.
Also a standout in the classroom at OSU, Holliday was a first-team academic all-conference honoree in each of his four seasons, earning that distinction in both the Big Eight (1996) and Big 12 (1997-99) Conferences. He was named an Academic All-American and the OSU Male Student-Athlete of the Year in 1999.
Holliday was selected in the 1999 Major League Baseball Draft by Toronto in the ninth round and spent two years in the Blue Jays organization. Following his professional baseball career, Holliday returned to Stillwater and joined the OSU coaching staff, where he served as an assistant for three seasons. He was a student assistant in 2001 before joining the full-time staff the following year.
Holliday left Stillwater to continue his coaching career in 2004, and over an 11-year span, he served as an assistant coach at some of the nation’s top baseball programs, serving stints on the staffs at North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, Arizona State and Vanderbilt. He coached on seven NCAA Tournament teams and three of those advanced to the College World Series (Georgia Tech in 2006, Arizona State in 2009 and Vanderbilt in 2011).
In 2004, Holliday joined the coaching staff at North Carolina State and helped that team reach an NCAA Regional.
Following that season, he moved to Georgia Tech and in his first year was part of the Yellow Jackets’ ACC regular season and tournament championships. During that 2005 season, Georgia Tech ranked in the top five nationally in batting average and runs per game. The following year, the Yellow Jackets reached the College World Series.
In 2008, Holliday was on the staff at Arizona State and helped bring in the top recruiting class in the nation, which helped the Sun Devils reach the 2009 College World Series.
Following two years in Tempe, Holliday joined Tim Corbin’s staff at Vanderbilt and in three seasons as an assistant and the program’s recruiting coordinator, Holliday was a part of three NCAA Tournament teams, including the Commodores’ 2011 College World Series team.
Holliday once again proved his skill as a recruiter at Vandy as he landed the 12th-ranked incoming class in his first season and signed the top-ranked class in 2011 by bringing in 13 new players.
A prep standout on both the baseball diamond and gridiron at Stillwater High School, Holliday was drafted in the 14th round of the 1995 Major League Baseball Draft by Minnesota. He was the USA Today Gatorade Player of the Year in Oklahoma and a Mizuno/Collegiate Baseball High School All-American as well as co-valedictorian of his graduating class.
Holliday is the son of Tom Holliday, who served as OSU’s assistant coach from 1978-1996 and was the program’s head coach from 1997-2003. Holliday’s younger brother, Matt, was a seven-time Major League Baseball All-Star outfielder and now serves on the Cowboy Baseball coaching staff.
Holliday is married to the former Jenny Moore, and the couple has two children, Olivia and Brady.
The Holliday File
• 1996-99: Played at Oklahoma State
• 1999-00: Played in Toronto Blue Jays organization
• 2001-03: Oklahoma State assistant coach
• 2004: North Carolina State assistant coach
• 2005-07: Georgia Tech assistant coach
• 2008-09: Arizona State assistant coach
• 2010-12: Vanderbilt assistant coach
• 2013-: Oklahoma State head coach
Major League Baseball Players Coached By Josh Holliday
Scott Baker
Jason Jaramillo
Josh Fields
Luke Scott
Jeff Salazar
Joey Devine
Matt Wieters
Tyler Greene
Blake Wood
Ike Davis
Jason Kipnis
Brett Wallace
Mike Leake
Josh Spence
Austin Barnes
Jake Elmore
Kole Calhoun
Curt Casali
Mike Yastremski
Sonny Gray
Sam Selman
Tyler Beede
Taylor Hill
Koda Glover
Jason Hursh
Donnie Walton
Thomas Hatch
Jonathan Heasley
Peyton Battenfield
Victor Mederos
Christian Encarnacion-Strand
Brady Basso
Justin Wrobleski
