Gary Holden came to work at Ferrum in October 1991 as Sports Information Director. He was named Assistant Athletic Director in January 2004, and spent six months as Ferrum's Acting Director of Athletics from June through December 2019. Holden was promoted Associate Athletic Director in August 2022.
Holden designed and helped launch Ferrum's athletics website Ferrumpanthers.com in July 2007 through SIDEARM Sports. Prior to 2007, he created and maintained Ferrum's athletics portion on the College website for 10 years. In the ensuing 17 years since launching Ferrumpanthers.com, Holden has overseen five website redesigns, four with SIDEARM and one with PrestoSports.
He helped Ferrum bid on and successfully host the 2019 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships, serving as Tournament Director and Primary Media Contact. The College also bid on and was selected to host the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships in March 2023, and he served as Tournament Director once again. Holden also served as Tournament Director for NCAA Wrestling Regionals in 2015, 2017, and 2018, and NCAA Baseball Regionals in 2004 and 2007.
Holden spent 10 seasons as Ferrum's Men's Tennis Coach from 1999-2008, earning USA South Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors in 2003 and 2006. He also served two seasons as Women's Tennis Coach from 2002-04, leading the Panthers to a USA South Tournament runner-up finish in 2002. Holden served on the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Committee from 2004-08, the final year as National Chair.
Holden spent three years as Sports Information Director for the Atlantic Central Football Conference from 1998-2000, also serving as the league's Acting Commissioner in 2000. He served a four-year term as President of the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) Association from 1998-2002, created the VaSID web site in 1997 and has served as VaSID Webmaster for over 27 years since then.
Holden's work in intercollegiate athletics began in 1985, where he served two years as Assistant Wrestling Coach and then four years as Head Wrestling Coach at his alma mater, Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. In his four years at the helm of the Panther mat program, he produced 21 All-Conference wrestlers, four conference finalists, one conference champion, two national qualifiers, and one NCAA Division III All-American. Holden was named New England College Conference Wrestling Association Rookie Coach of the Year in 1988 and Coach of the Year in 1990.
He is the author of the book "Black & Gold, A History of Athletics at Ferrum College," which Holden wrote and self-published in 2014. Holden was inducted into Plymouth State's Sports Hall of Fame in 2015 and Ferrum's Sports Hall of Fame in 2021. A native of Nashua, New Hampshire, Holden was a two-time state finalist in wrestling for Nashua High School, winning the 140-pound state title and Outstanding Wrestler Award in 1981. He and his wife Leslie reside in Ferrum, and are the proud parents of two grown sons, Taylor and Drew.
