Campbell University

The longest-tenured and winningest head coach in program history, Greg Goral is in his 13th season at the helm of Campbell volleyball in the fall of 2025. He now owns a career record of 178-172.

Under Goral’s leadership, the Camels have seen steady improvement on the court year-after-year, culminating in the program’s first Big South championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021, and the program’s first Big South regular season title in 2022 along with Coach of the Year honors. 

The 2024 season saw the Camels go 6-22, 4-14 in the first year below .400 since 2018. The squad battled injuries throughout the year, limiting depth and production across the board. 

Maddie Lambers garnered CAA all-rookie team honors after hitting .289 out of the middle blocker position. That mark led all CAA rookies, was eighth-best in the league overall, and was the second-highest mark in program history by a freshman. 

The Camels again earned the CAA Academic Excellence Award for the second year in a row, given to the team in the league with the highest overall GPA. The team posted a 3.748 GPA for the 2024-25 academic year, the highest mark in the program’s recorded history.

In 2023, Goral’s first season in the CAA, he guided the Camels to the postseason with a 17-13, 13-5 mark in league play. The Camels got red-hot during league play, winning five matches in a row in straight sets. Campbell finished third in the CAA and downed Northeastern in the quarterfinals, before falling to Delaware in the semis. 

Both Chloe Cook and Melody Paige earned first-team all-CAA honors, while Claranne Fechter was tabbed second-team. Cook and Fechter rounded out their careers as just the second and third players in program history to earn all-conference honors four times. The other, Sarah Colla, was also coached by Goral from 2018-2021. 

Campbell collected the CAA Team Academic Excellence Award in 2023-24 for the highest team GPA in the league. The Camels logged a 3.63 team GPA for the year to bring home the award. 

Goral was named Big South Coach of the Year for the first time in 2022 after leading the Camels to 14 conference wins and the conference regular season title for the first time in Campbell’s final season in the Big South conference. Campbell was named regular-season co-champion and earned the top seed in the Big South tournament for the first time, owning the head-to-head tiebreaker over High Point. 

Campbell reached the conference championship game for the second straight season, a program-first, but fell to HPU in three sets. Goral’s Camels finished 2022 with a 19-11 overall mark, 14-2 in the Big South. 

The 2022 squad had a program-record seven players receive all-conference recognition. Claranne Fechter was Campbell’s first Defensive Player of the Year, and was named first-team all-conference alongside Melody Paige. Lailah Green and Chloe Cook were each tabbed second-team all-conference. Four players across the first and second teams was a program record. Freshmen Aley Clent and Gwen Wolkow each earned a spot on the all-freshmen team, and Elyse Gross was named all-academic. 
 
Goral led the Camels to a program-record 14 conference wins during the 2021 regular season. After a slow start, Campbell won seven matches in a row for the first time since 1998, and after dropping one, rattled off seven more wins en route to a 14-2 conference mark and earning the 2-seed in the Big South tournament.
 
With the Big South tournament being hosted by Campbell, the Camels went 2-0 and topped High Point in five sets in the Big South Championship to punch their first ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
 
The Camels faced No. 10 Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb. for the program’s first NCAA Tournament game. A crowd of 7,884 was on hand, the largest ever for a Campbell match.

Goral’s Fighting Camels increased win totals in Big South Conference play each season from 2013-17, posting back-to-back 10-6 league records in 2016 and 2017. Campbell’s 2015 run to the Big South Championship match was its first appearance in the conference tournament title game since 1989, and, in 2019, the Camels made their second appearance in the conference title during his tenure.
 
Goral led Campbell to an appearance at the 2017 NIVC after a 20-10 regular season, the program’s first trip to a national postseason tournament.

Additionally, Goral has coached 20 athletes to All-Conference honors over the past 12 seasons. Off the court, the Camels have earned seven AVCA Team Academic Awards, while 25 volleyball athletes have been named to the Big South Presidential Honor Roll since 2013.
 
Among those accolades, he coached Sarah Colla to four all-conference selections and numerous other awards,, becoming the first Camel to make an all-conference team four times. Colla was named Big South Freshman of the Year and second-team in 2018, first-team and all-academic in 2019, honorable mention in 2020, and second team in 2021.
 
He also helped Chloe Cook to Big South Freshman of the Year in 2020 along with second-team all-conference.

Claranne Fechter was named Big South Defensive Player of the Year in 2022, and first-team all-conference. 

Goral was named the 12th head coach of the Campbell volleyball program on December 10, 2012. He came to Buies Creek after spending five seasons on the staff at Morehead State, where he helped turn the Eagles into an Ohio Valley Conference power.

Goral has experience in turning around programs during his stops at Auburn (2006-07), Eastern Washington (2005), Gonzaga (2004) and Rhode Island (2002-03).

With the Eagles, Goral helped push the program to its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2011. Morehead State posted a 121-42 overall and 77-12 OVC mark during his five seasons, including a 42-2 league mark from 2010-12.

Prior to the 2012 season, Goral was promoted to associate head coach after four seasons as an assistant. The Eagles swept the OVC slate, going 16-0, and winning 24-straight matches before falling in the OVC Championship match to Belmont, who they beat twice during the regular season.

He helped train American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Americans Katelyn Barbour (2008), Holly Evans (2010) and Ellie Roberson (2012) along with Capital One Academic All-American Emma Keough (2011) at Morehead State. He consistently helped to bring in student-athletes that impacted the program as the Eagles signed several PrepVolleyball.com Top-60 Recruiting Classes. The Eagles were also successful in the classroom in earning five-straight AVCA and OVC Team Academic Awards.

Prior to Morehead State, he aided Auburn in 2006 to the team’s highest win total since 2000 during his second season with the program.
Goral was instrumental in guiding Eastern Washington to a 23-9 record in 2005, after a season at Gonzaga. He helped Rhode Island to a pair of top echelon conference finishes in 2002 and 2003.

He began his collegiate coaching experience at Springfield College in Massachusetts. Goral helped coach the women’s team to a second place finish in 2000 and a regular season New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference title in 2001.

In addition, Goral has coached several junior programs, including the Spokane (Wash.) Splash, the Rhode Island Juniors Club and at the USAV NERVA Girls High-Performance Camp. He earned a USA Volleyball CAP level II accreditation during a summer internship at USAV, where he helped run the Junior Olympic Championships, the World League and assisted with promotion and marketing.

Goral earned a bachelor’s degree in 1996 from Carroll College, where he was a setter and helped start the men’s club volleyball program. He was also an all-conference swimmer and participated in the school’s tennis and football programs. He completed his master’s degree at Springfield College in 2002.

He has a daughter, Josie.