By Randy York
There were lots of laughs Friday when coworkers and friends said goodbye to Billy Coby,
who was working his last day as a Life Skills assistant in Nebraska’s
Athletic Department. On Monday, Coby will carry his unique Life Skills
torch to a new job as program coordinator for the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center,
the nation’s largest multicultural center attached to a Student Union.
Coby’s dry wit and timeless wisdom were in full force in his last day as
an athletic department employee, but make no mistake. The once double
Division I student-athlete (football/basketball) at Missouri
State University brought a lot to Nebraska’s table. “Billy had a
positive impact on our Life Skills program,” Nebraska Associate Athletic
Director Keith Zimmer said.
“He challenged our staff, and he challenged our student-athletes to
think in a different way and to keep it real with both our programming
and our relationships.”
Owner of a bachelor’s degree in Mass Media
and two master’s degrees in Business Administration and Higher and
Post-Secondary Education, Coby is now pursuing his PhD in Educational
Administration at Nebraska. “Billy has accomplished a lot while he’s
pursued his degrees,” Zimmer said. “He’s enhanced the resources and
services we provide in Life Skills, particularly in graduate school
preparation and mentoring.” During his Nebraska tenure, Coby coordinated
the Life Skills Team Competition, Student-Athlete Career Fair, Graduate
School Expo and HuskerConnect Mentoring Program. “Billy has been a good
advisor for writing personal statements and finding money for
scholarships,” Zimmer said. “He even helped prospective graduate
students create a disciplined plan and complete schedules with practice
tests to prepare them for their graduate entrance exams.”
Mentoring has been an equal point of
emphasis. “Billy believes really strongly in mentoring and connecting
with kids who don’t have the opportunities or the resources,” Zimmer
said. “He’s been great in helping our student-athletes become role
models so they can inspire young boys and girls who might be
disadvantaged in thinking about getting a chance at higher education. If
you have that chance, Billy believes you have the chance to succeed,
and he’s gone to great lengths to grow our entire mentoring program.
Basically, our mentoring program has tripled in size in his two years
here, and he’s been the catalyst for that.”
A serious-minded Coby enjoys the
light-hearted side of life, and his farewell reception reflected that
with gag gifts, fond memories of competitions lost and won at staff
retreats and an impromptu lecture that matched the surprise list of his
favorite expressions. His teammates presented the list as “Life Skills
According to Billy” and encouraged him to explain the first seven: 1) You can never say the wrong thing to the right person; 2) You can never say the right thing to the wrong person; 3) Avoid being someone’s source of frustration; 4) Microwaves are a man’s best friend; 5) Never commit to weekly yoga with a significant other; 6) Greatness is a gift, and I have it; and 7) When greatness knocks at your door, what do you do? You answer it.”
Well, true to form, when the Jackie Gaughan
Center knocked, Billy Coby answered, giving the 30,000-square-foot
multi-cultural facility a newly trained leader. “The Gaughan Center is
responsible for serving all ethnic and minority students on campus,”
Zimmer said. “We’ll continue to work with their staff and integrate
programs where it makes sense. We’re always looking for better ways to
communicate and collaborate with each other, so having Billy over there
can be a real plus for us. We view the Gaughan Center as a spectacle on
this campus, and we’d like to find ways for our student-athletes to help
out and learn at the same time. This should be a neat opportunity for
all of us.”
Send a comment to ryork@huskers.com (Please include current residence)
Randy’s N-Sider Blog Archive
Randy’s N-Sider Columns
