After five years at Iowa, DI Intramural Athlete of the Week Nick McCoy is like many other soon-to-be-college graduates — unsure about the future.
But two things have remained the same for the Council Bluffs native — intramural sports and the dream of hosting a television show on the Discovery Channel.
McCoy, 22, received an accounting degree in December 2008, and he is pursuing a degree in engineering. He plans on graduating in the spring of 2011.
“I’ll have those two degrees, but I don’t know,” he said. “You can get scared about [finding a job], but I’m trying to get excited about it … I think a show like ‘Mythbusters’ or ‘Dirty Jobs’ would be fun to host.”
What isn’t a myth is McCoy’s success in intramural sports.
After playing both soccer and football in high school, he turned to intramurals in college to fill his sports void.
“My favorite part of intramurals is the competition,” he said. “It’s a good way to get away from school for a little while, and there is a social aspect, too.”
He has participated in everything from flag-football to darts to badminton. He is a three-time champion at intramural dodge ball, and he has amassed at least nine or 10 of the extremely sought after intramural champion T-shirts.
He has enjoyed recent success this season as a member of co-rec flag-football semifinalist Purple Nurple and the All-University flag-football champion, Favre’s Favorites.
In 2008, McCoy teamed up with former DI Intramural Athlete of the Week Derek “White Chocolate” Johnson in an attempt to win the All-University intramural championship, which is awarded to the intramural squad that performs well in the most intramural sports.
The squad ultimately took second. But now that McCoy and Johnson’s team won the All-University flag-football title, the squad is poised to win the All-U title.
“To say that Nick is a great guy is not giving nearly enough credit,” Johnson said. “As a teammate, Nick is as intense as they get. Once the game starts, play time is over, and he is at it 150 percent from start to finish.”
Outside of intramurals, McCoy has spent the past year volunteering with the Big Brother, Big Sister program in Johnson County.
“It’s fun to get one-on-one time with a kid,” he said. “Over the year, you grow a friendship and hopefully provide a positive influence.”
There’s one other thing that McCoy is known for, Johnson said — his sense of humor.
“The way he stretches and warms up before the game really exemplifies his goofy nature,” Johnson said. “It is just a really elaborate and over-the-top performance that is nothing but good comedy.”