 On December 12, 1955, after his nine seasons at Purdue, Holcomb left Purdue to accept the athletic director position at the Northwestern University

Holcomb served as the Athletic Director at Northwestern from 1956-1966.He hired fellow Miami alum Ara Parseghian to be the new Wildcats head coach in 1956, and Parseghian stayed at Northwestern until accepting the head coaching job at Notre Dame following the 1963 season.One of the reasons for Parseghian's departure was his feud with Holcomb.