Indiana State guard Cole Holmstrom taken aback by loss of scholarship

By Todd Golden
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — No one was more shocked that Cole Holmstrom had his scholarship pulled than Cole Holmstrom himself.

The non-renewal of Holmstrom’s scholarship became public knowledge last week. Holmstrom said he found out a little earlier, during a postseason individual meeting with ISU coach Kevin McKenna.

“It all came as a shock to me. We had team meetings at the end of the season. I can’t remember the exact date. He asked me how the season went and then broke the news to me,” said Holmstrom on Wednesday. “I told him I wanted to stay, I like it here, and that I would work to continue to get better. But basically, he said I wasn’t really wanted here.”

Holmstrom said he wasn’t given a reason why his scholarship was pulled.

“He didn’t give me a reason, he told he didn’t think I’d be happy here, but I was. I know I didn’t play much last year, but I planned to work hard and change that for next year. He thought I should go somewhere to continue to play,” Holmstrom said.

When called for reaction, McKenna didn’t think Holmstrom would get the chance to play major minutes, as he did during his freshman season when he started 20 times.

“With the players we have and the players we have coming in, I just didn’t think it was going to change,” McKenna said. “We decided to move forward.”

McKenna stressed that he didn’t intend to leave Holmstrom high-and-dry as far as his basketball future was concerned.

“Cole has scholarship opportunities at other places. We made that option available to him,” McKenna said.

To date, Holmstrom has not elected to pursue those opportunities. He admitted there were other schools interested, but he was still weighing his options.

“I had a few options, I had some phone calls here and there, but I was set on staying here. I wanted to make it work here,” Holmstrom said. “It’s up in the air, but it would have to be a pretty good offer for me to leave here.”

Holmstrom said he’s become comfortable socially and academically at ISU, but not to the point where he’d continue to play as a walk-on.

“They did offer me a walk-on spot, but during the meeting they said I wasn’t really wanted here,” Holmstrom said. “I think they offered [a walk-on] because they had to. I don’t see how I could take that [after playing on scholarship].”

Holmstrom points per game dropped from 9.2 as a freshman to 3.4 this season and he admitted that he struggled with McKenna’s Creighton-style spread offense. Holmstrom had played motion at the AAU level, in high school at Bloomington South and for ISU under then-coach Royce Waltman during his freshman campaign.

“With coach Waltman, we ran motion, and that’s my strong point, I’ve never played with set plays up and down the court. I wasn’t doing too well with sets and that’s not my style. I was thinking about plays, when I should have been thinking about going out and playing like I can.,” Holmstrom said.

Holmstrom was plagued by problems in set plays. On more than one occasion, the offense broke down when he didn’t go to the right spot during a play. Holmstrom said the coaching staff tried to acclimate motion-based players into the system, but not to his comfort level.

“They tried and stuff with that. That system is hard when you’re doing something else your whole life,” Holmstrom said. “I was starting to get the hang of it. I told him at the meeting I felt I was getting more comfortable, I felt he kind of gave up a little early. I think he should have instituted more motion and I could have contributed.”

Holmstrom is still coming to grips with the end of his ISU basketball career. Unless he takes up one of the scholarship offers (he did not say which schools were offering), he plans to finish school at ISU.

“I’ve had a lot of support, but it’s been tough. It just knocks the wind out of you. It was a big shock to me. It still bothers me and it’s obviously not the way I wanted things to end,” Holmstrom said.