![\"picture](\"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2010\/10\/HOLKER088.jpg\" "\\"HOLKER088\\"")
<\/a>Holker openly admits he didn\u2019t think that was going to be the case when he took over the Auggie program in 2004. His goal was pretty simple: make Augsburg respectable, win some games, and put himself in position to become the next Gustavus coach.<\/p>\n\u201cI had a five-year plan,\u201d he says. \u201cI thought I\u2019d be here three years and I\u2019d be out.\u201d But something happened along the way to mess up those plans\u2014Holker became an Auggie.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe institution has evolved significantly over the six years I\u2019ve been here and I\u2019ve changed as well,\u201d Holker says. \u201cI started to embrace the institution and our work.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also had success. In 2006 Holker led Augsburg\u2019s men\u2019s soccer team to a 13-victory season and a first-ever Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) playoff berth. In 2008 Augsburg reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history and reached the Sweet 16 before losing to Loras College in two overtimes.<\/p>\n
This past spring, however, brought out the truest example that Holker had genuinely become an Auggie. When the head soccer coach position at Gustavus opened, Holker was approached about the job and spent a day in St. Peter.<\/p>\n
Before the search moved any farther along, however, Holker pulled out of consideration.<\/p>\n
And this year, following a record-breaking season for men\u2019s soccer, Holker was named MIAC Coach of the Year, and sophomore Chad Gilmer was named MIAC Player of the Year. The team won the MIAC playoff championship and advanced to the national tournament for the second time. It won the first round, but lost to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in the second round.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, this is where I want to be,\u201d Holker says. \u201cI like being in the city and I like that there\u2019s a very true identity here. I think I\u2019m 100% in love with what this institution does. Seven years ago, this was a job. Now, it’s a part of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
And now he\u2019s an Auggie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Greg Holker knows that his class ring from Gustavus Adolphus College is in a box at his house. And he\u2019s pretty sure he knows where his diploma is. But that is it. Those are the only tangible things the Augsburg men\u2019s soccer coach has left from his time both as a player and as an <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,7],"tags":[48,62],"class_list":["post-1206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-athletics","category-featured-stories","tag-fall-2010","tag-mens-soccer"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5768,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206\/revisions\/5768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}