At a time of unrest and instability and inevitable change in college athletics, I’ve wondered what Mark Hollis is thinking. His voice and creative mind would be valuable in the Big Ten right now and, perhaps, also within the larger landscape of major college sports.
Michigan State’s former athletic director is no longer immersed in that world. He’s instead absorbed in his role as vice president of business development for Rock Ventures in Detroit and Cleveland, working for Dan Gilbert and Quicken Loans CEO Jay Farner, where Hollis still gets to be very much an idea man. But he’s not that far removed from three decades in college athletics, the last 10 years as MSU’s AD.