Holly Fowler joined SMU in 2023 as Head Coach of SMU Pom and became Assistant Director of Spirit in 2025. She leads the Pom program in training, choreography, and game day performances. She also supports the overall direction of the Spirit program alongside SMU Cheer and Peruna, the university mascot, under the direction of Carrie Teller.
Fowler grew up in Plano, Texas, and trained at Next Step Dance in Frisco, where she studied jazz, tap, hip hop, contemporary, lyrical, and ballet. She went on to attend Texas Tech University, earning a bachelor’s degree in marketing. As a four-year member of the Texas Tech Pom Squad, she was a three-time NDA All-American, won five NDA National Championship titles including two in Division IA Jazz and three in Division IA Pom, and traveled for appearances at away games such as the Big 12 Tournament. During this time, she also attended Pro Action Dance and was selected to film with CLI Studios, an online training platform featuring top choreographers.
After graduation, she returned to Texas Tech as Assistant Coach of the Pom Squad from 2021 to 2022, helping guide the program as Team USA’s U.S. National Jazz Team to a gold medal at the 2022 ICU World Championship. For the past five seasons has been on staff with Texas College Dance Team Connection, where she spends summers collaborating with other coaches, recruiting, and teaching high school dancers preparing for collegiate programs.
In 2023, she co-founded Skills Dance, LLC, a dance training company focused on preparing dancers for collegiate programs. The company provides audition prep, workshops, and technique classes modeled after the expectations of college dance teams, helping high school dancers transition successfully to the next level. She operates the program with her sister, Tori Daniel (Skillings), building a network that connects aspiring dancers with collegiate opportunities and mentorship.
She is currently pursuing her MBA at SMU’s Cox School of Business. She and her husband, Jerrod, who is a high school basketball coach, live in McKinney with their two dogs, Copper and Winnie.
