John Wayne Holladay was a sophomore quarterback at Appalachian High School in 1988 when he set the AHSAA single-game passing record with 461 yards in a 47-46 double-overtime loss to Oakman. He completed 27 of 41 passes for five touchdowns that game. Holladay was named to the ASWA honorable mention All-State team as a sophomore.

Following his sophomore season at Appalachian, his father, Lee Holladay, took the head coaching position at Meadowview Christian in Selma for one year before leaving for a job in Graceville, Florida. John would graduate from Graceville High School in 1991.

Holladay played quarterback at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and graduated from the college.

He landed his first head coaching job at Brilliant in 1996 where he remained for three years before taking over the program at Hamilton High School in 1999. His record at Hamilton was 47-24 with all but one of his teams making the playoffs in six years.

In 2005 he accepted the head coaching position at Clay-Chalkville for two seasons. His teams finished with a 19-5 record and a couple of playoff spots.

In the fall of 2007 Holladay took over the program at Walker where he has remained for the past seven years. Each of his teams have qualified for the playoffs and the Vikings won a region title in 2012. He stepped down after one game of the 2013 season.

His last fourteen teams have made the playoffs.

His father, Lee Holladay won over 200 games at a number of schools in Alabama and Florida during his 40 plus years as a football coach.

Johns brother, Trey, was also a high school football coach at Coffee Springs, Coffeeville, Sweet Water, Lynn and Smiths Station through the 2004 season. He led Lynn High School to the 1996 Class 1A State Championship game. Trey was named principal at Oxford High School in 2005.