Austin Holter enters his 11th season at Denison in 2020. After spending his first three seasons at Denison as the team's quarterback coach, Holter has spent the last seven seasons as the team's offensive coordinator. In addition to calling the offense in 2020, Holter will also coach the running backs.
Under Holter, the Big Red has boasted one of the most dynamic offenses in all of Division III football. Since 2016, Denison has averaged 36.5 points per game while posting a record of 31-10.Â
In 2019, The Big Red finished with an overall record of 8-2, marking the program's third, eight-win season since 2016. Over the last four seasons, Denison has gone 31-10 with two NCAC Championships and one NCAA Division III playoff appearance in 2018. Denison also added 16 All-NCAC selections in 2019, including 2019 NCAC Offensive Player of the Year, All-American, and Gagliardi Trophy Semifinalist, Alex Minton. In 2019, Miinton broke the single-season rushing record with 1,550 yards. The previous record of 1,517 yards was set by Clay Sampson in 1979. He also ended the regular season ranked fourth in the nation in rushing yards, seventh in rushing touchdowns (18) and third in total touchdowns (21). Minton rushed for over 100 yards, seven times in 2019 and ended the season with a career-high 255 yards rushing against Kenyon marking the third-best single-game effort in school history.
The 2018 season was a breakthrough campaign for the Big Red. After finishing the regular season with an 8-2 record, Denison captured a share of its first North Coast Athletic Conference championship since 1986. Denison earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship, marking the program's first playoff appearance in 33 years. Led by senior quarterback Canaan Gebele, the Denison offense set new program marks for points (437), points per game (39.7), touchdowns (60), first downs (262), total offense (5,000), all-purpose yards (5,974) and total plays (805). Gebele leaves Denison as the all-time leader in passing yards (7,608), TD passes (66), touchdowns responsible for (106) and total offense (10,028). Gebele is Denison's first-ever semifinalist for the Gagliardi Trophy, presented to the top player in Division III football.
Holter has mentored three of the top quarterbacks to suit up for the Big Red in Max Paulus '13, Brandon Sklenar '15 and Gebele '19. The trio ranks No. 1 (Gebele), No. 2 (Paulus) and No. 5 (Sklenar) on the DU career passing yards leaderboard with a combined 19,154 yards between them. Denison has become a destination for quarterback play over the last decade but other standouts on the offensive side of the ball have aided the Big Red's ascension up the ranks of Divison III.
Dushawn Brown '15 totaled a program record 3,193 yards and 29 touchdowns from 2012-15. He was named to the Associated Press Little All-American team in 2014 after totaling 83 receptions for 1,397 yards and 13 touchdowns. Alex Minton became the fifth player to post two, 1,000-yard rushing seasons in 2018. Minton totaled 1,368 yards on the ground in 2018 and was a first-team all-conference selection. In two seasons he has totaled 2,369 yards rushing and will return for his senior season in 2019. Â
A 2010 graduate of The College of Wooster, Holter spent three seasons as the Fighting Scots’ starting quarterback. He was a two-time All-NCAC selection and in 2009, he set a school-record with 2,873 yards of total offense. His 2,106 passing yards were also a school record.  A native of nearby Johnstown, Ohio, Holter was the Johnnies starting signal caller until his graduation in 2006. In 2018, Holter completed his postgraduate studies at the prestigious Center for Sports Administration at Ohio University. Consistently ranked as one of the top program's in the country, Holter was one of 28 in the class of 2018 from the PMSA program at Ohio.
On the recruiting trail, Holter is responsible for 10 states including northwestern and central areas of Ohio.
