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PROVO — Tom Holmoe's tenure as athletic director at his alma mater is soon coming to a close.
The 20-year athletic director announced Tuesday that he will retire following the conclusion of the 2024-25 athletic season, according to a BYU. He leaves a "undeniable legacy" that includes guiding the Cougars into the Big 12 Conference.
A former BYU defensive back who also coached at California and in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers, Holmoe's retirement comes on the heels of BYU's celebration of its 100th season of college football.
Holmoe was part of the BYU football program for more than a quarter century as a player and graduate assistant under his coach LaVell Edwards, and as athletic director since 2005.
Holmoe will address the media and BYU fans in a news conference Wednesday at 10 a.m. MST that will air on BYUtv and stream at BYUtv.org.
Holmoe, 64, made several key coaching hires during his two decades in charge since his initial hire March 1, 2005. He oversaw an athletic department of 21 intercollegiate sports, including more than 600 athletes per season and 220 department personnel.
"Every time I was around Tom, I felt lifted up," said former BYU men's basketball coach Steve Cleveland, who was hired at BYU in 1997 and welcomed him back to campus as an associate athletic director in 2002. "He always made me feel better about myself, even when I went away and then moved back here. He was always concerned about others. He will be greatly missed, but he deserves to retire, to be with his family and his kids.
"That's a huge job, and to do it the way he did required a lot of time and a lot of effort."
Thank You, Tom.
— BYU Cougars (@BYUCougars) February 11, 2025
After 20 years of service as BYU's director of athletics, Tom Holmoe has announced that he will retire at the end of the 2024-25 athletic season.
Tom lifted BYU to unprecedented heights during his tenure, leaving an undeniable legacy that will last forever. pic.twitter.com/65Okewta7K
In his time leading the department, BYU has captured four national championships, 133 conference regular-season and tournament titles, and more than 350 individual All-American accolades across all sports.
Holmoe was a member of the NCAA men's basketball selection committee from 2015-18 and the West Coast Conference executive council committee chair from 2014-17. Over his 20-year tenure, BYU has averaged a No. 36 finish in the annual NACDA Learfield Directors' Cup standings that rank athletic success across all programs.
That includes a No. 17 ranking in the 2020-21 athletic season, and as high as the No. 1 overall ranking following the fall of 2022.
Holmoe was "the right man at the right time," said BYU broadcaster Greg Wrubell.
Holmoe was named athletic director of the year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics in 2020-21, and received the 2023 John L. Toner Award from the National Football Foundation in recognition of his "superior administrative abilities and outstanding dedication to college athletics and particularly college football."
Perhaps the seminal achievement of Holmoe's tenure, at least from the outside, was the Cougars accepting an invitation to join the Big 12 Conference in 2021. The move took BYU out of a decade as a Football Bowl Subdivision independent in football and the West Coast Conference in most other sports, and finally offered a seat at the table of a power conference for the first time in athletic department history.
"He was there during times of significant change that changed the landscape of everything to do with BYU," said Cleveland, who complimented Holmoe's "visionary" status during his tenure over Cougar athletics. "You look at cross country, at men's and women's sports, they've all had a high level of success. Tom had a chance to oversee that success."
Prior to his installment as athletic director, Holmoe, who played defensive back from 1972-82, returned to BYU in 2002 as the associate athletic director for development. As part of his responsibilities, he supervised the Cougar Club overseeing BYU donors and alums, as well as a liaison with the LDS Foundation and the BYU Alumni Association board of directors.
The native of La Crescenta, California, was an All-Western Athletic Conference first-team selection as a senior in 1982 before being selected in the fourth round of the 1983 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers. He played in the NFL for seven years, including Super Bowl championships in 1984, 1988 and 1989.
