He said he learned by watching. And now, head baseball coach Scott Holder has the eyes of his players and assistant coaches on him as they spend hours working toward another winning season.

Beginning his 24th season of coaching, Holder continues to prepare the Eagle baseball team for the first game of the season 2022-23 season. Last spring, Maxpreps ranked Prosper 20th in the Texas 6A Division, and the coach said his team will be working to do even better this year.

Holder took his first steps into his career back in high school when one of his coaches inspired him.

“There’s probably been several coaches – one that I played for in high school that really inspired me to be a coach, and I just saw what he did, and how he affected me,” Holder said. “And that kind of you know, gave me a motivation to get into that career.” 

Throughout the start of his college career, Holder intended to pursue veterinary medicine, but early on he switched back to his true passion: athletics.

“You know, I actually went to college to go to vet school – that was my initial plan,” Holder said. “So I got into that and figured out that I didn’t like science that much so I changed my plan. That’s when I really asked myself, you know, athletics is really where I’ve always had a tremendous interest in so I kind of went that route, and it’s been everything I thought it’d be.” 

As he transitioned from working at one high school to another, Holder learned valuable life lessons that he passes on to his students. And, when he does so, he starts early and continues late. For example, the team begins lifting in the weight room daily at 6:45 a.m. Holder coaches all baseball teams, as well as leads some physical education classes throughout the day.

“It starts at 6:45 a.m., and it really doesn’t stop,” Holder said. “On game days, it’s even longer. We’re out playing until probably 9:00 p.m. or 9:30 p.m., and get back at 10:30 p.m or 11:00 p.m.”

On the field and during practice, Holder receives assistance from coaches Clay Wilson, Brendan Clary and Justin Lopez. 

“One thing that I’ve been fortunate enough to have is I’ve really never had a team that’s struggled, or been bad,” Holder said. “We’ve always been pretty good, and that’s because I’ve had good coaches and assistant coaches.”

Holder said his baseball experiences have allowed him to gain more knowledge throughout his career.

“I’ve coached under different guys: (one at) Marguerite Coro High School, Steve Huff at College Station High School – who’ve been great mentors to me, and made me better at what I do,” Holder said, “And really (taught) me how to impact high school students and players, so those guys have been really huge in my career as far as being the coach that I am today.”

Gaining more experience throughout the years, Holder found that coaching came with its own personal struggles. 

“You have years where different groups are all different,” Holder said, “And so your job as a coach is to learn – learn how to relate to those athletes, and how to get the most out of them. So, that’s really the struggle from year to year.”

Throughout Holder’s years of coaching, his goal has been to help all of his students grow in different ways – whether it is on the baseball field or in the classroom. Having different teams every couple of years also has allowed Holder to learn how to connect with different types of students each year. 

 “We’ve had some groups that are really good that you just feel like you didn’t get the most out of them, or you couldn’t relate to them, and … that’s the hardest part about coaching,” Holder said. “Last year’s team that we had – they had to grow. So that’s the most enjoyable thing, is seeing a group like that going from where they started to where they ended and playing at the top of their game. I think that’s the most enjoyable thing about coaching. When we have a year like that – you always remember those teams.”