By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The University of Cincinnati and athletic director Bob Goin agreed on a contract extension that could keep Goin at UC through June 2005.

The extension covers two years, with the second year contingent on mutual agreement between Goin and the successor to UC president Joseph Steger, who has announced his retirement effective June30 of next year.

Steger, recovering from appendectomy surgery, couldn't be reached for comment.

Goin, 66, is in the second year of a two-year deal that also was due to expire on June30 of next year.

Financial terms of the new contract weren't immediately available. Under his current contract, Goin makes $175,798 in base pay. With incentives and bonuses, he made $322,074 in 2001.

Goin has been UC's athletic director since Oct.1, 1997, when he was hired to replace Gerald O'Dell. The men's basketball program was being investigated by the NCAA, causing a deep rift between coach Bob Huggins and O'Dell.

"It wasn't a happy time," Goin said.

Huggins now says that if it weren't for Goin, he probably would have left UC years ago.

"If he wouldn't have come when he came, I would have been out of here," Huggins said. "I'd be in the NBA now."

Huggins also says Goin was the biggest factor in his decision to turn down overtures last summer from his alma mater, West Virginia.

"He's been great with me," Huggins said. "He's tremendously supportive. He's been a coach, so he understands what coaches go through. He lets you do your job, but you know what the parameters are."

Goin has been the driving force behind the Varsity Village project, an $80.3 million overhaul of UC's athletic facilities scheduled for completion in 2005.

"When I got here, there was a budget that I felt was woefully inadequate," Goin said. "We didn't have enough resources to get kids scholarships. Our facilities were bad. What excited me was what Bobby had done with basketball in a decent facility. I thought that if we had better soccer facilities, better baseball and football facilities, those teams would get better, too. And that's proven to be true."

During Goin's tenure, UC's football team has made three bowl appearances in five years after a 46-year drought without a postseason appearance.

UC teams under Goin have posted a combined winning percentage of 61.8 entering this year, with 23 conference titles, 30 postseason appearances and 31 All-Americans.

Goin has balanced the $20 million budget that funds 18 intercollegiate programs and brought the school into compliance with federal gender-equity guidelines. To do so, he added a women's rowing team and eliminated three men's sports - rifle, indoor track and tennis.

"I didn't like that," Goin said. "I've never had to do that in my life. I don't think it's the role of an athletic director to deny opportunities; it's to increase opportunities. But we're also confronted with budget realities."

Goin Goin compares the athletic director's job to the director of a play.

"When you walk out of that play, you say, 'Geez, weren't those actors good and wasn't that scenery first-class, and wasn't the music great?'" Goin said. "My job is to set the stage in the best environment, give them the tools and let them perform."