Oct. 17, 2007

Complete List Of Top 100 Sport Educators in PDF Format
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KINGSTON, R.I. --- East Carolina University Director of Athletics Terry Holland has been named one of the 100 Most Influential Sports Educators by the Institute for International Sport, according to an announcement made by the organization Wednesday.

Executive Director Dan Doyle administered a series of "coach and athlete" surveys for his forthcoming book, The Encyclopedia of Sport Parenting, and directed the institute to come up with the list of the 100 Most Influential Sport Educators in America and 15 Most Influential Sports Education "Teams" in America. The core criterion for selection in each category was the effective use of sport as a means to educate. The project took years to complete.

"In America and in many other countries, we honor elite athletes, winning coaches, wealthy team owners and media moguls. We praise sports educators yet we really do not honor them in a manner befitting their admirable impact on society," said Doyle. "This project is aimed at honoring individuals and organizations who have creatively and effectively used sport in the very best way - as a means to educate and shape positive values," he concluded.

From the time the Institute announced the project in 2004, the organization received over 1500 nominations for individuals and "teams". After reducing the list to 200 individual finalists and 30 "team" finalists, the Institute appointed a final selection committee made up of coaches, athletic administrators, journalists and academicians. David Bloss, former Sports Editor of the Providence Journal, chaired the committee.

Holland has been involved with collegiate athletics for five decades dating back to his basketball playing days at Davidson College in the mid-1960s. He got his start in coaching at Davidson as an assistant coach before being elevated to the head position. From there, he went on to guide the University of Virginia's program where he spent 16 years on the sidelines. In all, Holland completed his coaching career with a total of 418 wins in 21 seasons.

After retiring from coaching in 1990, Holland returned to Davidson to become its athletics director, but five years later, he was back at Virginia to take on the athletics director duties there. He served in that capacity until his retirement in 2001 before being introduced as athletics director at ECU in 2004.