A wild journey took former Gamecock QB Mike Hold from SC. Then it brought him back
Editor’s note: This story is part of The State’s series “SC Sports: Where are the stars now?“
South Carolina brought Mike Hold on an adventure across the country and then sent him on a chase for much of his adult life. He went coast to coast and crossed the Atlantic Ocean. He ended up in quarterback competitions with not one but two No. 1 overall NFL Draft picks.
And then, the Palmetto State called him back.
These days Hold, the starting quarterback on the Gamecocks’ storied 1984 squad, makes the trip from West Columbia to Newberry each morning, working as the director of the athletic club at Newberry College. When he first left football after nearly a decade as a coach, he and his wife had to make a choice: Who gets the commute?
“We had a young baby, so it was kind of like, would my wife drive here every day or would I drive there?” Hold said. “So I drive there.”
His work there drew on some of the skills he gained coaching in the Arena Football League, where the job might ask a coach to sell sponsorships or organize the equipment side of things. Life at a small school asks him to be a jack of all trades, something he was well used to.
It’s been more than 35 years since he arrived in Columbia and led the Gamecocks to one of the best and most memorable seasons in the program’s history. With Joe Morrison’s suffocating defense and Hold at the helm of an option offense, the Gamecocks knocked off Georgia, Florida State and Notre Dame on the way to 9-0 and the No. 2 ranking.
But the famed upset by Navy cut down the team’s national title hopes. Hold didn’t start that game, but he still cherishes that season, especially topping Clemson the week after the Navy loss to get to 10-1.
“The season we had in ‘84 was unbelievable,” Hold said. “It’s something I’ll never forget, and people don’t forget around here.”
Hold had already made a trek to join Morrison’s squad, from his hometown of Tempe, Arizona and junior college in that part of the country. His next steps took him even farther afield.
“I went to the [Denver] Broncos after college,” Hold said. “Then went through training camp there, got cut. I couldn’t beat out [John] Elway. So they sent me packing.”
He landed in Chicago with an Arena League team, and then took a step toward coaching. Morrison brought him back as a graduate assistant, but a non-traditional road to the NFL opened up.
The 1987 NFL season opened with a strike. The teams needed players, so Hold went after that chance.
“I went to Tampa,” Hold said. “played in the strike. And then after the strike was over, I got cut but resigned that day to go back to training camp. In 1988 I went back to training camp and got cut because I couldn’t beat out Vinny Testaverde.”
So the Arena League called again — with stops at Maryland, Orlando, Sacramento, Phoenix and Houston — with a three-month sojourn to play for a team in Milan, Italy. That stint in Texas ended his 14 years as a player, and he quickly switched back to the coaching world.
He spent two seasons coaching a team in Augusta in the Arena Football 2 League before bouncing to Greensboro, North Carolina, then Macon, Las Vegas and finally the Mahoning Valley Thunder in Youngstown, Ohio.
But life changed around his final year, 2009. The coaching lifestyle offered some aspects that worked for a couple.
“You pick up and take off,” Hold said. “Once we had a child, we needed a home base. [Former Gamecock and Newberry AD] Brad [Edwards] called me one day, out of the blue. I drove down from Youngstown that night, interviewed the next day, took the job and then drove back, packed the house and came back.”
He said he’s still close with some Gamecocks teammates, in casual contact with far more. They don’t hang out in Five Points like the old days, but he still looks back fondly on those two years he shared with them.
He still savors the 17-10 win against Georgia in 1984, as well as taking the 36-32 win over Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Growing up out West, Southern Cal-Notre Dame was a big televised game, so taking down the Irish had extra meaning.
And as he carved out this chapter of life in South Carolina, he reflected on the lessons he took from his first time here.
“I grew up so much because coming from out West. I was homesick at first,” Hold said. “It was a big change for me.
“I could have stayed out West and won a national championship, let’s say at Arizona State. ... People would forget. But that ‘84 season, nobody forgets.”
