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JOHN DAY – Australian people speak with unusual accents that takes some getting used to, but new Grant Union Athletic Director Max Goin overcame the problem in his first teaching position.

Originally from Albany where he graduated from high school, Goin did his undergraduate studies at Eastern Oregon University before attending graduate school at Oregon State.

“I was just short of getting my master’s degree at OSU when I had the opportunity to teach in Australia,” he said. “I got a three-year contract, so I left OSU in the spring. I taught high school at Elfam, which is a suburb of Melbourne, at Mount Morency High School. Their physical education program was just getting off the ground and they were bringing in American PE teachers to get it started. I taught general science, two classes of health and the rest was physical education. I was also the athletic director at the school. The program was groundbreaking for them and I was kind of able to get my feet on the ground in my first year of teaching.”

Goin has been with the Grant Union school district for 29 years, 28 at the middle school where he taught physical education and coached, so it was a logical transition for him to become athletic director.

“I have coached sports at both the middle school and high school, and now I’m doing the paperwork in the AD’s position,” he said. “Believe me, there’s a lot of that with the OSAA. With the changing times and the changing policy, the paperwork becomes more of a factor every year. I think my background in sports has given me a good understanding on what makes athletic programs go. I think I can make things better here as Grant Union’s new athletic director.”

Married to Nancy for the past 24 years, the couple has a 17-year-old daughter, Kristin.

“My wife works for Dr. Peterson as a dental hygienist, that’s where I met her,” Goin said. “I was in the chair and she was cleaning my teeth.”

An avid outdoorsman, Goin said this is one of the reasons he enjoys living in Grant County.

“I’m primarily an outdoors type of guy,” he said. “I like to hunt and fish and hike. I enjoy 4-wheeling and a love to river raft. River rafting is kind of a passion of mine and I do a lot of it. The outdoors is my thing.”

Read a good book lately?

“I actually read quite a bit, mostly pleasure reading,” he said. “I enjoy Louis L’Amour westerns – fast, simple reading. As far as music goes, I like the oldies, 60s and 70s rock and roll, the music I grew up with. I don’t watch a lot of television, I don’t have a lot of time to do that, but when I do, I like to watch college sports, football and basketball. I don’t watch too much pro stuff.”