BELTON — Growing up as the son of a UMHB alum in Central Texas, Josh Goings spent more than a few Saturdays on the UMHB campus in his early years as a young athlete. He remembers being in the stands for memorable football games as The Cru continued its rise to national prominence on the gridiron. And inside the Mayborn Campus Center, he watched Ken DeWeese’s men’s basketball teams play with their trademark up-tempo style, competing in the always-deep American Southwest Conference.
“I grew up going to every single UMHB football game—I never missed a home game,” Goings, a junior guard for the men’s basketball team, recalled in a conversation a few weeks ago. “And basketball, I went to almost all of them. There are pictures of me with my face painted at UMHB games. I was a big UMHB fan growing up and was always around campus.”
It makes it all the more special then, that he is now one of those players the young kids in the stands at the Mayborn Campus Center look up to. He remembers being in their shoes not all that long ago.
As UMHB (14-8, 3-3 ASC) returns to Belton for its final two home games of the 2024-25 season, starting with Thursday night’s duel against first-place Hardin-Simmons, Goings is amongst The Cru’s centerpieces on both ends of the floor. In his first full season in Belton, the Salado High School product has put up consistent numbers, leading The Cru in total assists (74), while also ranking second on the team in scoring (12.1 points per game), minutes per game (27.0), and field goal-percentage (48.7%, min. 50 attempts).
Last Saturday, with UMHB desperately needing to get back on track with a win following three straight losses, Goings provided the offensive spark. He scored a team-high 19 points in 29 minutes, grabbing 10 rebounds along the way. It marked the first double-double in Goings’ two-year career in Belton, as The Cru overwhelmed ETBU, 82-57, in their first win in Marshall since the 2020-21 season.
“I’m thankful for the culture we’ve built and our chemistry,” Goings said, the statement perhaps becoming truer through the ebbs and flows of the season. “As a team, we’ve had some losses we wish we could get back, but we’ve stayed together through it.”
Goings had an opportunity to head to UMHB as a college freshman, but opted to chart his own path a bit further away from the area in which he had always lived. He made the trek east to Division II Trevecca Nazarene College in Nashville, Tennessee, and immediately saw the floor upon arrival. He averaged 26.4 minutes per game as a freshman, making 18 starts and averaging 2.3 assists per game. But by the time December of his sophomore year rolled around, he started considering a change in scenery. Amongst other factors, a coaching change prior to the season threw a wrinkle into Goings’ young collegiate career, and he came off the bench in each of TNU’s first five games.
UMHB entered the picture again. And this time, he took head coach Clif Carroll up on the offer to play for The Cru. That wasn’t easy, though.
“It was hard,” Goings said, when asked about transferring midway through the season. “But I really felt like God was calling me to UMHB and He blessed me with the ability to go out there confident and my teammates. Guys like [Josiah Johnson] and Eli [Beard] accepted me and gave me confidence where I was able to be myself and play free.
“My teammates accepting me and me being able to play free helped me to transition fast. It wasn’t easy. But when you have good teammates and a coaching staff that trusts you and wants you there, it makes it easier.”
The dynamics of the mid-year transition meant it took Goings some time to find his role, especially as he walked into a program that had dropped five of its previous nine games. The Crusaders were struggling more than they had been expected to, raising the emotion in the locker room. That made it difficult for him to step into a leadership role as the “new guy”, something he has embraced this year after building strong bonds with the rest of the team through the offseason.
“It’s been a big difference obviously,” Goings said, when asked about the benefits of being with UMHB through the entire season, as opposed to only the second half. “It’s pretty tough joining a team mid-year. One of the things God has blessed me with is a want to lead. Joining a team mid-year, you don’t get to use your voice as much because guys don’t really want to hear it. So last year, I wasn’t as vocal and able to lead like I wanted to. Having the full year in the offseason to build relationships with the guys and work with everybody, it’s been a lot easier for me to lead and be myself.”
He made his debut on Jan. 6, 2024, in a 91-75 loss to UT-Dallas at home. Inserted into the game for the first time with 11:24 left, he scored on his lone shot, driving to the lane for a turnaround jumper that hung on the rim before falling through the net. By the time The Cru’s second meeting with UTD played out—a key 99-87 road win—Goings was one of UMHB’s more established scorers, putting up 21 points against the Comets.
Those expectations followed Goings into the current season, as he was named to the ASC’s “Players to Watch List” in the preseason. A consistent scorer, Goings enters Thursday’s duel with HSU having recorded 17 games of 10 points or more this season, and multiple assists in seven of The Cru’s last eight contests.
Needless to say, everyone, including Goings himself, is happy he is back in Belton.
“Coming out of high school, I wanted to make my own path and decided to branch out [so I went to Trevecca Nazarene],” Goings added. “But coming back has been great for me. I’ve been blessed in a lot of ways with that decision.”
That sentiment extends far beyond his basketball success. When Goings talks about his time at UMHB over the last year and a half, he also mentions how important the faith piece has been. The Christian focus of UMHB’s mission, both in academics and athletics, resonates with him, and being part of organizations, like the strong Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter on campus, only adds to that.
“I always tell people that I would just be a student at UMHB [even if basketball wasn’t in the picture],” Goings said. “My faith is my most important thing, and coming back to UMHB, I’ve been able to openly share my faith—not that I didn’t do that at my old school—and it’s very easy to talk to people about faith here. As a normal student I would love UMHB, even if I wasn’t playing basketball. The opportunities to have my faith shown, have fun as a student, and grow through FCA with the way Kyle [Shipp] is pouring into our team, I praise God for the opportunity to come back to a school like this.”
As a standout at Salado High School, Goings was tasked with a prominent role on the court. He had the ball in his hands on almost every possession, either scoring it himself or setting up a teammate to put it through the net. His junior season in 2020-21 saw him average 25.4 points and 7.0 assists per game, taking the Eagles to the Area Round of the UIL 4A Regions 3 & 4 playoffs with a team led by its strong chemistry. That run, highlighted by a 66-41 win over Smithville in the bi-district round, saw Goings score 25.
He got a taste of the collegiate postseason experience last year, as UMHB put together an improbable run as the ASC Tournament’s No. 4 seed. The Cru took down ETBU in the quarterfinals, and stunned Hardin-Simmons on its home floor in the semis, setting up a third matchup against UT-Dallas for a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Though Goings’ layup with 28 seconds and two free throws from Josiah Johnson at the 17-second mark put UMHB up 77-71, it was too much time. UTD put together a 7-0 run over the final 11 seconds and won the title. It fueled UMHB, and Goings, throughout the offseason.
“Our mentality has always just been: win,” Goings said at the beginning of ASC play. “Like Coach Carroll says all the time, he recruited us to win championships. I’m sure a lot of guys have individual goals, but since I’ve been at UMHB, the main focus has always been winning. We feel like last year kind of got stolen from us—we were up six points with 17 seconds left. So with that feeling last year, our only goal is to get it this year.”
UMHB would lock up the No. 2 seed in next week’s conference tournament with two wins this week over Hardin-Simmons and Howard Payne. After the performance they put together at ETBU, it’s certainly a possible scenario, and one that would put The Cru in position to both claim the conference crown and make a return trip to the NCAA Tournament.
HSU comes in at 7-0 in ASC play and HPU is the fourth highest-scoring team in Division III basketball, so going 2-0 might be the toughest task The Cru has faced this season. But they’ll be ready for the challenge.
“I love playing in front of our crowd,” Carroll said last Saturday. “They make it so much fun. Everyone knows the deal with Hardin-Simmons, so coming in Thursday night, that’s going to be a lot of fun. I hope we fill it all the way to the top, get rowdy and loud, and make it a special week for our seniors and players. Hopefully it allows us to continue some momentum, so we can come back out here to East Texas [for the ASC Tournament] and stay on a roll.”
UMHB tips off against Hardin-Simmons at 7:30 p.m. CT on Thursday night and will host Howard Payne at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Admission to both contests is free.
Awesome story about a truly fine athlete! Jason and family must be (busting at the seams) proud!