Golf Guides Morgan Nuss to Academic and Athletic Success at UNI
Golf Guides Morgan Nuss to Academic and Athletic Success at UNI
Morgan Nuss (Accounting and Economics ‘24) has been golfing almost as long as she can remember. Her father introduced her and her twin sister Allison to the game when they were 3. The two spent their free time mirroring his swing. By the time she was 10, Nuss started playing in junior tournaments.
That almost-lifetime passion for golf led Nuss to the Wilson College of Business. And she’s glad it did.
“I really liked the [golf] program, it was close to home and I loved the size of the campus,” said Nuss, who is from New Hampton and met the women’s golf coach John Bermel through junior golf tournaments. “And it turned out to be the perfect fit.”
Nuss initially attended UNI undeclared intending to be a math teacher – both her parents are teachers – but the more she learned about business and accounting, the more she was intrigued. She declared a business major after her freshman year and stuck with it, graduating with a major in accounting and economics this past spring.
Balancing courses with her collegiate golf career was tough. It was crucial to manage time between practice, assignments, studying for tests and weekend tournaments. A typical day started with a workout followed by classes, lunch and more classes. Then there was practice and qualifying rounds, back to her room for studying, then bedtime.
What made the experience more manageable was UNI’s faculty. Nuss said she never encountered any issues when it came to her collegiate athletic career and academics. She earned the Missouri Valley Conference Board of Director's and Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award – having a GPA of 3.5 or better – three years in a row. She was also named to the conference’s honor roll three years straight.
The professors and instructors were so accommodating, which I greatly appreciated. They went out of their way to learn more, where we were traveling and made arrangements for tests and assignments beforehand, if possible. It was a huge weight lifted, that’s for sure.
Nuss has a few highlights from her time at UNI. A few from her athletic career are traveling to Illinois State during her freshman year for a tournament and beating in-state rival Drake at a home tournament in 2023. The other, and perhaps the biggest, was being teammates and classmates with her twin sister, who majored in marketing.
“[Allison] and I are really close, and we knew we wanted to stay together after high school,” Nuss said. “We can talk to each other about anything, so that definitely helped get me through everything.”
She added that UNI is an excellent place for student athletes. If she had a chance to do it all over again, she’d do it in a heartbeat.
“You won’t find the type of community feel you get here at UNI anywhere else. It’s special,” Nuss said. “The faculty knows you by name, you make connections with your professors. They get to know you, your background, your strengths and weaknesses. In general, the support they give you is unmatched.”
