DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS Dr. Rick Goeb

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A new era in Bemidji State University athletics began July 13, 2001 when Dr. Rick Goeb was named BSU‘s first full-time director of intercollegiate athletics.

Goeb directs a 17-sport varsity athletics program at BSU with NCAA Division I men’s and women’s ice hockey and 15 Division II sports.

Beaver athletics has undergone dramatic changes in Goeb’s tenure, having seen more than a dozen positions created or filled with new hires - including head coaches for women’s hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, soccer, softball, baseball, women’s golf, tennis and volleyball - and the hiring of BSU’s first full-time athletics fundraiser.

In Goeb’s nine years overseeing BSU athletics, the program has entered one of the best all-around eras in the program’s history. Men’s ice hockey has won two College Hockey America regular-season titles, two tournament titles and made three Division I NCAA Tournament appearances; men’s basketball won its first NSIC Championship in decades, advanced to its first-ever NCAA Tournament and hosted first-round NSIC playoff games four years straight; women’s basketball hosted and won its first-ever NSIC playoff game; indoor track won its first-ever NSIC Championship; men’s and women’s golf have made NCAA regional appearances with both full teams and individual performers.

BSU athletics has also assembled a strong academic reputation under Goeb’s leadership. Men’s hockey has set a CHA single-season record for number of Academic All-CHA performers three times and produced the 2005 CHA Student-Athlete of the Year; women’s ice hockey posted three consecutive WCHA Student-Athletes of the Year from 2002-04; and nearly two dozen BSU student-athletes have been recognized on the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V Team with four Academic All-America honorees.   

Goeb came to Bemidji State after six years as senior associate athletics director at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. At Fairbanks, Goeb served as NCAA compliance officer, monitored academic eligibility and acted as the liaison for booster clubs.
   
Prior to his position at Fairbanks, Goeb spent two years as an administrator at North Dakota. Goeb also served as the head wrestling coach at St. Cloud State from 1990-93 when he was an instructor in physical education and a facility coordinator; was the strength and conditioning coach at Northern Colorado from 1989-’90; and served as an assistant wrestling coach at North Dakota State from 1988-’89.
   
Originally from Anoka, Minn., Goeb received his undergraduate degree at North Dakota State, where he was also a Division II national wrestling champion. He was inducted into the Bison Hall of Fame in 2009. Goeb earned his master’s from Northern Colorado and doctorate from North Dakota. He and his wife Carol have two daughters, Amber and Anne and a son, Jordan.