UNL Campus Recreation is hosting a farewell reception for Senior Associate Director Bill Goa on Thurs., June 20. The event will be held 3–5 p.m. at the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center and will honor Mr. Goa for 28 years of service with the University. Mr. Goa will be the new Director of Campus Recreation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
A Grand Island native, Bill Goa has been involved with college recreational sports for more than 30 years. He was an Intramural Sports staff assistant and official during his undergraduate years at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and worked as a graduate assistant for Campus Recreation at the University of South Carolina while completing his Master of Education degree. Upon his graduation in 1985, Bill returned to UNL Campus Recreation where he worked as Assistant Director for Informal Recreation and coordinated facilities and instructional programs for the next seven years. In 1992, Bill became Associate Director for Facilities and has overseen and managed all major construction, renovation, and improvement projects involving indoor and outdoor recreation venues on the UNL campus. He was elevated to his current Senior Associate Director status in 2001.
Under Bill’s leadership, a multitude of campus recreation facilities have come to fruition: the completion of the current City Campus rec center and subsequent renovations to add the super circuit, climbing wall, treadmill loft, and Cardio Zone; renovations to Mabel Lee Hall gyms and pool; construction of the Fleming Fields Softball Complex; the conversion of the former varsity softball complex to Mabel Lee Rec Field; upgrades for tennis courts, sand volleyball, outdoor basketball, and synthetic turf fields at the 14th & Avery Rec Area, 17th & Vine Rec Area and East Campus rec areas; and acquiring the Leadership Training Center and construction of an adventure ropes course. Bill’s recent projects have involved the North 17th Rec Area, the Breslow Ice Center, and the opening of the Fleming Fields Annex Building.
Bill has been an integral asset to the student-led YES 2 Better Rec Centers referendum, which allocated $23 million for improvements to campus recreation facilities in 2010. Included in this project are the new Outdoor Adventure Center, new East Campus Rec Center, and major renovations to the City Campus Rec Center; these will open in succession between spring 2014 and summer 2015.
For his outstanding service and leadership, Bill has been honored with a NU Board of Regents Kudos Award (2004), the UNOPA Carl A. Donaldson Award (2012), and Award of Merit from the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association (1988). From 1989 to 1990, he was president of the Nebraska Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance in addition to being president of the Lincoln Umpires Association from 1989 to 1995. Since 1998, he has served as commissioner for the Heartland Athletic Conference and is a former baseball umpire for the Big 8, Big XII, and Missouri Valley Conferences.
