Tom Holmoe has a 6-year-old granddaughter who missed school to attend an event announcing his retirement as BYU’s athletic director in February.
The next day at school, her mother overheard a conversation between the granddaughter and another little girl, who asked where the granddaughter was the previous day. The granddaughter replied, “Oh, I was at my papa’s graduation.”
Holmoe said he thought that was “cute” and “true.”
“I think graduation is like a commencement,” he said in the Church News video “Graduation.” “As people we are constantly going through commencements — beginnings in our lives. There are so many cycles that we go through, and then there’s new adventures that we go through. And I can see and I can really feel through the Spirit that this was the right time.”
One of Holmoe’s favorite parts of being the athletic director is seeing the development of the student athletes from freshman to success at the end of their college careers. He’s grateful the Lord guided him to BYU, “a place like none other.”
Ultimately, he has learned to love the Savior.
“What I’ve learned, and it is pure knowledge to me now, is that Jesus Christ, my Savior, my Redeemer, is my only hope,” he said.
