Jason Samuel, director of WGCS FM and Globe Media, confirmed his new role as coach for the Goshen College men’s and women’s disc golf teams on Tuesday. This puts GC at a total of athletic programs. They will be the first GC teams to regularly compete against NCAA schools. 

“The time is right. There are signposts instead of speed bumps that are telling me that we’re headed in the right direction,” Samuel said. 

The GC athletic department began talks of establishing a disc golf team back in 2022. Erica Albertin, former athletic director, asked Samuel to do some research on disc golf and present his findings. In the span of 18 months, Samuel provided Albertin with three reports which included player demographics, conference structures, regional courses and game statistics from other schools. He also provided a budget of possible expenditures. 

The department and administration chose not to move forward with a disc golf team at that time. And as far as Samuel knew, that was the end of GC’s disc golf discussion. 

On Aug. 26, Samuel received a Google Calendar meeting invitation titled “Disc golf conversation.” The meeting, organized by Steve Wolma, vice president for enrollment management, reignited the possibility of disc golf teams at GC. 

Wolma believes offering two new athletic teams is a great enrollment initiative and that Samuel, as a coach, will have no problem recruiting. 

“To me, that’s a winning combo in terms of trying to roll out a sports team that is going to have success in increasing our enrollment,” Wolma said. 

Dwight Gingerich, the athletic director, is confident that Samuel will build a strong new program. “Jason strikes me as a team player. It was very important to him that this would fit in well with the wider athletic department,” he said. 

Samuel has played at the Disc Golf World Championships twice, the first in 2007 and most recently in 2022. This year, he was elected Indiana state coordinator for the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA). He also received the 2025 Indiana Eagle Award from the Michiana Disc Golf Association in February for his contributions to regional disc golf. 

Samuel said, “I’m excited, and I’m eager.” However, he said that he is mostly grateful for the support he has received from the athletic department and his colleagues in the communication department. 

“[Goshen College] is important to me. I’m a codependent enabler of something that can’t love me back, but that’s okay,” Samuel said. 

In 2007, Samuel “retired” from disc golf, and never anticipated coming back. 

“There were things that were important to me here at GC. You know, your children get older. I wanted to be part of all those family things. I was doing grad school with Purdue. Something had to give,” he said. “I couldn’t dabble. You know what I mean? Like, I was in a love affair with disc golf. We were deep in. We loved each other, but it couldn’t continue.” 

His 13-year hiatus ended in 2020 when his son suggested playing during the pandemic. 

“Then I played Saturday, Sunday, Monday. And then that was it. I was back. I was back, back, back, 100%,” Samuel said. 

Following his return, Samuel asked to organize the Ice Bowl, a disc golf fundraising event for local charities. 

“I got back at this because I wanted to feed people. Total strangers fed my family when I was young. And I have never forgotten that, nor will I,” he said. “And I know that there are people that don’t know who I am and I don’t know them, but someone will be raised up out of this and they will feed people in the future.”

Samuel has also helped Elkhart County redesign the disc golf course at Ox Bow Park. 

Apart from Indiana, disc golf has gained popularity in several Midwestern states including Illinois, Michigan and Iowa. Based on logged games in UDisc, the industry standard for measuring disc golf participation, Michigan is ranked 9th in the nation. 

PDGA membership counts per state place Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois in the top 20. 

But Gingerich believes Samuel won’t stop at local recruiting. “I think he’s got his eye on recruiting internationally,” he said. 

“The plan is an excellent team,” Samuel said. 

Wolma, Samuel and Gingerich have stated that a total of 18 to 30 athletes between the men’s and women’s team would be ideal in the first year of the program. 

Gingerich said that number is consistent with “general trends” of other GC sport teams. 

Wolma added, “Ideally, we’d love to see something similar to what we had with bowling. Not necessarily in the first year. Jason has time to build it up. But over time, it’d be great to see teams about that size.”

GC will be joining nearly 300 colleges and universities with programs recognized by College Disc Golf, and will also be overseen by the PDGA. 

By entering into the Great Lakes Conference, the teams will not only be competing against NAIA schools like Mount Vernon Nazarene and Spring Arbor, but Division I and Division II schools like Notre Dame, Ohio State and Ferris State. 

Samuel suggests that a total of 18 players, with 12 on the men’s team and six on the women’s team, will allow for teams of two to four to compete in all three conference divisions. 

Saroj Kauffman, president of the disc golf club, believes official disc golf teams are “a step in the right direction.” He said, “As far as the sustainability of the program goes, I think it can be pretty strong, especially in the Michiana area.” 

Samuel will be splitting his time between the communication department and coaching. Starting in February, He will spend 25% of his work week managing the college’s radio station, 91.1FM The Globe (WGCS), and 75% in the athletic department. 

When asked what he thinks about Samuel’s new commitments, Eduardo Alvarez-Barrera, student station manager for WGCS, said, “He’s still going to be part of the Globe. If there is anyone that can handle this much pressure, it’s Jason.”