Scholar Stories: Hollen Takes Long Road to Fulfilling Lifelong Dream
2/19/2020 10:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse, Features
Continuing the series that began in 2016-17, each Wednesday MGoBlue.com will highlight a Michigan student-athlete and their academic pursuits. These are our Scholar-Athlete Stories, presented by Prairie Farms.
By Brad Rudner
Peter Hollen is finally living out his dream.
At 24 years old, Hollen is one of the elder statesmen on the University of Michigan men's lacrosse team, but his road to get there was both long and winding. After graduating high school, he had planned to leave the sunny skies of southern California behind and attend college on the east coast, where he had offers to play both football and lacrosse.
Instead, life called him home. He enrolled at USC and played club lacrosse for four years while earning a degree in business administration. The change was unexpected, but looking back, it was all a part of his journey.
"I always had the itch to play lacrosse in college and wanted to play," Hollen said, "but at the time, it was more important for me to stay."
Despite the sudden change of plans, he was fond of his time as a Trojan. On the lacrosse field, though, the laid-back atmosphere left him wanting more. There were teammates of his who thought of lacrosse as a hobby. If someone did not want to practice, there really was not anything stopping them, not that Hollen was in that camp.
In 2017, with Hollen leading the charge, USC made the Southwestern Lacrosse Conference (SLC) playoffs for the first time and was scheduled to take on Arizona State in the first round of the postseason tournament. Hollen wanted to play, but due largely to choices made by some of his teammates, the team never even made the trip.
The Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA) pondered two choices when it came to punishment: expelling the Trojans completely or relegating them down to Division II. With the program's future at stake, Hollen traveled to the SLC coaches meeting and convinced them to keep USC in Division I on probation with no immediate postseason eligibility.
In 2018, Hollen's final season, USC went 8-6. He helped save the program.
"That's actually what I was thinking about as it related to team goals my senior year," he told the MCLA's Dave Franklin last March. "The standards the SLC set for us to stay in good standing were fair, but everyone was expecting us to screw it up, and I was determined to prove them wrong more so than anything else. Now I know I left USC lacrosse in a good place and don't have to worry about it."
After graduating with a degree in business administration, Hollen had a decision to make: go to graduate school and play lacrosse at the highest collegiate level possible or enter the workforce. He already had a job offer in-hand from a consulting firm.
That's when Michigan head coach Kevin Conry called.
"There was some hesitation. I asked myself, 'Do I want to completely veer off this path that I'm on?'" he said. "The safer choice would have been to take the job, but what I always wanted to do was to play sports in college. I needed to answer that question. I didn't want to have any regrets, any 'what ifs.'"
"If it was another school other than Michigan, I don't think I would've pursued it."
Initially, his stay in Ann Arbor was only supposed to last a year, aligning with the NCAA rule that allows student-athletes five years to complete four years of eligibility. But he's still here, now in year six, after an appeal to the NCAA was granted last summer.
"The appeal wasn't a given. It was a pretty long process," he said. "I thought, 'There's no chance.' But then I thought about it more, thought about the opportunities. I turned down a job. I could walk away with a degree and a network. It became an easy choice. If I got the appeal, I was going to do it."
Hollen was accepted into the School of Social Work and will soon graduate with a master's degree in non-profit management. His career will not be in social work, but the foundation in social policy will allow him to approach business with a new perspective.
At USC, Hollen interned at both Qualcomm and Wells Fargo, and while those were great business experiences, it was not exactly what he wanted to do. Coinciding with his arrival at Michigan in August 2018, Hollen spent the next year working part-time for HumanKind Ventures, a small consulting firm in San Diego. Last summer, Hollen worked full-time with a non-profit real estate developer that aimed to provide a residential properties for the homeless.
To that end, Hollen has given some thought about pursuing an MBA through the dual-degree program with the Ross School of Business. That would tack on another year, at least, to his studies.
Today, in-between his coursework and his commitment to lacrosse, Hollen is fulfilling his work-credit hours with Catholic Social Services of Washtenaw County. He also has volunteered with the VA Hospital of Ann Arbor and served as a sport ambassador with the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, a non-profit organization aimed to improve the quality of life for children battling pediatric brain tumors and other childhood cancers.
"To whom much is given, much is expected," Hollen said. "As student-athletes, I think it's important to use our platform. Every student-athlete at Michigan should look at their ability to affect change in the community. It's just important."
Needless to say, Hollen is about as selfless as they come -- and that extends to the field.
He was an MCLA All-American (second team) at USC, but that was as a long-stick midfielder. Conry switched him to the short stick, a thankless position that's asked to "match feet," meaning those playing it need to be quick and agile.
As Hollen says, "You're blamed for everything and thanked for nothing."
He also is one of the team's captains. It is a role that is not lost on Hollen, though he is plenty happy to just be another voice on a team filled with capable leaders.
"I'm just an old guy," he said. "There are a lot of guys on this team that are Michigan lacrosse. I'm just here to help them out on and off the field. The future of the program rests on them."
But for Hollen, the future -- at least for him -- is now. This chapter of his life, one he's been living for six-plus years, will soon come to a close.
"When it's 5 degrees outside and you're out there for a long practice, you sometimes ask yourself, 'Why do I do this?'" he said. "For me, this has been a childhood dream fulfilled. That's the best way I can put it. This is what I've always wanted to do. It's been a great experience."
