Allyn A. "Sonny" Holland (March 22, 1938 – December 3, 2022) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He was the head coach at his alma mater,

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...

in Bozeman, from 1971 to 1977. Holland led the

Bobcats The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...

to two Big Sky

titles A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

(1972, 1976) and the Division II playoffs in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

, where they won all three postseason games and were

national champions National champions are corporations which are technically private businesses but due to governmental policy are ceded a dominant position in a national economy. In this system, these large organizations are expected not only to seek profit but als ...

Personal life and death

A native of

Butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word mea ...

, Holland graduated from Butte High School and was a lineman at Montana State from 1956 to 1959, where he was a small college

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n at

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

., Holland was an assistant coach under Jim Sweeney at Montana State and then was head coach at Charles M. Russell High School in

Great Falls Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

for three seasons (1965–67). He rejoined Sweeney for a year at

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

in Pullman, then was the head coach

Western Montana College The University of Montana Western (UMW) is a public college in Dillon, Montana. It is affiliated with the University of Montana and part of the Montana University System. It was founded in 1893 as Montana State Normal School and was also the Wes ...

Dillon Dillon may refer to: People *Dillon (surname) * Dillon (given name) * Dillon (singer) (born 1988), Brazilian singer *Viscount Dillon, a title in the Peerage of Ireland Places Canada *Dillon, Saskatchewan United States *Dillon Beach, Californi ...

in 1969. Holland returned to Bozeman in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

as the Bobcats' defensive line coach under

Tom Parac Tom Parac (born c. 1931) is a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Montana State University from 1968 to 1970, compiling a record of 9–20. Parac was the athletic d ...

, then was promoted to head coach after the season. At age 39, Holland stepped down as the Montana State head coach in November 1977, and was succeeded by

Sonny Lubick Louis Matthew "Sonny" Lubick (born March 12, 1937) is a retired American football coach. He was the 15th head football coach at Colorado State University from 1993 to 2007. Lubick won or shared six Western Athletic Conference or Mountain West Con ...

. The spring football game at Montana State is named for Holland and a bronze statue of him was unveiled at Bobcat Stadium in September

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. Holland died on December 3, 2022, at the age of 84, after suffering from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holland, Sonny 1938 births 2022 deaths American football centers Montana State Bobcats football coaches Montana State Bobcats football players Montana Western Bulldogs football coaches Washington State Cougars football coaches High school football coaches in Montana Sportspeople from Butte, Montana Coaches of American football from Montana Players of American football from Montana Deaths from Parkinson's disease