Broken Promises Left Him Scrambling for Scholarship

When Tom Holler, an offensive lineman at Cal State Fullerton, was a senior at La Quinta High School in 1985, he had college football options aplenty.

Fullerton, Nevada Las Vegas, Cal and San Diego State were offering scholarships. UCLA coaches had come to watch him play his final two games, although the Bruins never made an offer. Holler, a 6-foot 2-inch, 240-pound offensive and defensive lineman, was The Times’ Orange County Lineman of the Year, senior class president, and he finished second in the Garden Grove League heavyweight wrestling finals.

But by the time Holler decided to attend San Diego State, the scholarship he had been promised was gone.

“The first time they (San Diego State coaches) called, they said, ‘If we bring you down for a visit, we’ll be offering you a scholarship,’ ” Holler said. “They said, ‘Yeah, we have a scholarship for you.”’

Holler visited San Diego State, and decided to go there. But by then, the Aztecs were fresh out of scholarships, having received commitments for the then-NCAA limit of 30 (The NCAA lowered the limit to 25 in January).

“They just changed their minds,” Holler said. “They found somebody they liked better, I guess.”

Holler was disappointed, but he still wanted to play at San Diego State enough to agree to sit out the first semester and enroll in January. He made a verbal commitment to attend San Diego State a week before the signing day, and his decision was reported in local papers.

But when he telephoned an assistant at UNLV to tell him of his plans, the assistant said such a scholarship was illegal under NCAA rules, and threatened to report it. The next day, San Diego State called Holler and withdrew the offer.

The NCAA does not allow spring scholarships to players out of high school except in specific situations, such as when a player graduates from high school early.

What happened to Holler is not unusual, said Ken Conatser, who recruited Holler at San Diego State for then-coach Doug Scovil.

“That happens a lot,” Conatser said. “Kids get offered scholarships and the school’s got a (NCAA) 95 limit. They (coaches) go over (the limit) and then they have to go back and renege. That’s what happened at San Diego State.”

Conatser said he was told by the football staff that he could offer Holler a scholarship for the spring, but that he checked with the NCAA because he was unfamiliar with such an offer, and found it to be illegal.

“I felt very badly,” Conatser said. “But we didn’t want to do anything illegal and besides, I didn’t want the kid waiting until January when I knew that if we didn’t win enough games that season we were going to be fired.”

Scovil and his staff were fired after the 1985 season.

Most schools try to schedule visits by more-favored prospects first, Conatser said. That way, the coaching staff hopes they will decide before the second choices arrive, in an attempt to ensure that the school gets as many top prospects as possible.

“At San Diego State, too many guys (coaches) were committing scholarships,” Conatser said. “That happens a lot of places, and it’s something that’s not very pretty.”

Holler, suddenly without a scholarship, checked with Cal, UNLV and Fullerton and was told that those offers still stood.

On the Sunday before signing day, he visited Fullerton. The next day he made a verbal commitment--his second in a week--to attend Fullerton. He redshirted his first year at Fullerton, and last season year saw considerable playing time for the Titans, who finished with a 3-9 record.

The Aztecs, meanwhile, played in the Holiday Bowl after an 8-3 season.

Holler, though, said he doesn’t resent what happened with San Diego State.

“I’m kind of content where I am,” said Holler, who said he chose Fullerton over UNLV and Cal because he did not much care to live in Las Vegas or Berkeley.

“I have no regrets.”