PROVO, Utah -- BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe is retiring at the end of the 2024-25 sports season after more than 20 years at the school.
Holmoe helped BYU join the Big 12 Conference in 2023 after a decade as an FBS independent. He also made several key hires that helped elevate the Cougars in multiple sports, bringing aboard Bronco Mendenhall and then Kalani Sitake in football, along with Dave Rose, Mark Pope, and Kevin Young in men's basketball.
"I just believe that this is a really good time to make a smooth and effective and powerful transition," Holmoe told reporters Wednesday. "I see that the pieces are in place for us to continue to really thrive. The Big 12 has been a special blessing for all our teams. We all believe in the Big 12 and the leadership of the Big 12."
Holmoe was hired as the school's athletic director in March 2005, after joining BYU in 2002 as an associate athletic director for development. During Holmoe's tenure, BYU has won four NCAA championships and 133 conference regular-season and postseason championships across 21 sports. More than 350 student-athletes have earned All-America recognition during that time. Since 2005, BYU has had an average annual ranking of 36th in the NACDA Learfield Directors' Cup that ranks all athletic programs in NCAA Division I.
Holmoe was named the NACDA Athletic Director of the Year in the 2020-21 season and earned the National Football Foundation's John L. Toner Award in 2023.
He revealed Wednesday that he signed a series of one-year contracts during his time as BYU's athletic director.
"I've been here for 23 years on a year-to-year contract. I never had a multiyear contract. I never asked for a multiyear contract. They never gave me a multiyear contract," Holmoe said. "I literally wanted it to be where I had to work for my food."
BYU president Shane Reese said the university will "cast a broad net" in its national search for a successor. Holmoe plans to stay aboard and finish out his current contract, which expires in August, to help with the transition.
"I don't think you ever replace a man like Tom Holmoe," Reese said. "I think there's a successor in this role, but Tom Holmoe is an irreplaceable athletic director."
Before becoming an athletic director, Holmoe coached California in football from 1997 to 2001 and had a career record of 16-39 (.291). He also had stints as an assistant coach at California, Stanford, BYU and the NFL's San Francisco 49ers.
Holmoe played football for BYU under LaVell Edwards in 1978-82, earning first-team All-WAC honors as a senior. He was selected by the 49ers in the fourth round of the 1983 draft and spent all seven of his NFL seasons in San Francisco. Holmoe played on three Super Bowl-winning teams with the 49ers in 1984, 1988, and 1989 before retiring from pro football.