Compass Setting: Spartans north...Penn State south (Hail Mark Hollis)!

While the Penn State empire teeters and spins out of control…let’s celebrate some good news…let’s celebrate the fact Mark Hollis is AD at Michigan State.

What Mark Hollis has accomplished in a few short years is nearly impossible to fathom. My business experience helps me understand that Mark Hollis is a man in perpetual motion, leading the charge to reestablish the “Michigan State University Brand & Spartan Athletics”.

I acknowledge that a single man doesn’t generate all the ideas nor personally dot every ‘I’ and cross every ‘T’…of every plan…and I acknowledge every leader needs a team to execute the plan but, Mark Hollis is a visionary and here is a list…a not so short list…of accomplishments that appear on Mark Hollis resume. Let’s take a look.

A few short years ago, Mark Hollis was the visionary behind the ‘Cold War’ Hockey Game at Spartan Stadium. The game attracted more than 74,000 fans (the largest at the time) and it may sound ‘ho-hum’ today but, Mark Hollis wrote the script…he was the first to organize a Hockey game in a football stadium and since that time, the NHL and other NCAA teams have adopted the idea but, make no mistake…the first game was played on the grass at Spartan Stadium. Nice job, Mark!

Mark Hollis was also the visionary behind the Spartans playing Kentucky in the Basketbowl at Ford Field in front of a regular season crowd of more than 78,000. Again, ‘ho-hum’ right? I’m not speaking about an NCAA Tournament game with 16 teams…this was a regular season game with 78,000 partisans. Again, nice job Mark!

And don’t forget, Mark Hollis was responsible for reclaiming WJR ‘the great voice of the Great Lakes’ to broadcast Spartan games. WJR booms its voice throughout Michigan and the Midwest, and Mark Hollis demonstrated to WJR the power of the Spartan audience and, in that context, WJR once again became the ‘Flagship’ of Spartan Sports. Small item? I don’t think so. WJR was the Spartan voice throughout the 50’s & 60’s but, Don Canham (Michigan AD) got WJR to switch allegiance back in the day. But, Hollis was not to be denied and when he took the reins, he recaptured WJR to become the radio voice of the Spartans. Great coup, Mark.

And, how about rebranding? For Marketing people like myself who got annoyed over years as various MSU coaches or AD’s tinkered with Spartan uniforms to a point that the word ‘uniform’ was an oxymoron, Hollis recognized the need to stabilize the uniforms worn by Spartan teams. Over the last 40 years, Spartans appeared in different uniforms…adorned in different shades of green…stripes today (gone tomorrow)……some uniforms marked with the word State…others marked with the word Spartans...and on and on…it made national media wonder ‘what is uniform about the uniforms?’ But, Mark Hollis changed all that and with the help of Nike…together they created a ‘Spartan look’ for the 21^st century and a Spartan Brand that appeals to young and old. Nice job, Mark.

Oh, and here are just a few people hired by Mark Hollis over the last couple of years:

Mark Hollis, at the direction of President Lou Anna Simon, lead the search for a football coach and made a nice hire, wouldn’t you agree? Mark Dantonio was chosen from a short list of distinguished candidates and since his arrival, Mark Dantonio has achieved a regular season record of 40-17 (70%)…4 consecutive Bowl games…2 New Year Bowl games and, oh by the way…a Big Ten title. And, the last time I looked, the Spartans are tied for first in the Legends Division and just happen to beat both Co-Champions this year! Nice hire, Mark.

And Mark Hollis also participated in the hiring of Suzy Merchant to lead Spartan Women’s Basketball who, by the way, won a Big Ten Championship this year and then Mark Hollis also hired Jake Boss to lead Spartan Baseball and, once again, Jake Boss won a Big Ten title this year. All in all, a nice day at the employment office. Nice job, Mark.

There are more accomplishments but, there are too many to cover here!

But that brings me to today. Spartan Basketball is commencing their season by playing the #1 team in the country and Mark Hollis thought it would be a nice idea to schedule the game on an Aircraft Carrier while it is ‘parked’ in San Diego Bay. Simple? For anyone who has military experience (as I do) and understands the legendary military procedure manuals and protocol that dictates how everything is done (down to and including, how to fold your towels and where to store your toothbrush) and when you open the military manual and there isn’t a page that describes how to schedule a basketball game on an Aircraft Carrier…then you can appreciate how complicated it was to get approval for this game. But, Mark was undaunted and walked his way through the Pentagon as if it were Spartan Stadium to get the result he desired.

So applaud Mark Hollis today and congratulate him for all he has done for Spartan Athletics. Not bad for a young man who hails from the ‘twin’ Michigan villages of Lexington/Crosswll. So hail Mark Hollis…Spartan nation is proud to call you one of our own. And today, as you watch the empire in State College teeter and fall…you can celebrate the rebirth of Spartan Athletics as Mark Hollis leads the charge!

Go Spartans…good luck on the USS Carl Vinson…play like Spartan Warriors!!!