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A 'painful' exit from OSU 15 years ago set Josh Holliday on the path he needed to take to get back

Related Topics: Before Present, Josh Holliday

STILLWATER — Fired from the only school he had ever known or loved, Josh Holliday considered another life.

He spent his boyhood in Allie P. Reynolds Stadium, dreaming of being an Oklahoma State baseball player and the Cowboys' coach. He did the former, playing for OSU from 1996-99 under Gary Ward and his father, Tom Holliday. When he realized he found more joy in teaching his teammates than improving himself, he retired from professional baseball in 2000 and returned to Stillwater as an assistant on his dad's staff, pursuing the latter.

When then-OSU athletic director Harry Birdwell announced May 31, 2003, that Tom's contract would not be renewed, Tom's 26-season tenure as a Cowboys coach and assistant ended.