Waterville, ME - Vermont State University Lyndon men's basketball player Gregory Gonyea Jr. (Dolgeville, NY) has been nominated for the North Atlantic Conference Man of the Year award, as announced by the conference today. The award encompasses all facets of the NCAA Division III Student-Athlete experience.
Gonyea graduated in May with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a Management concentration. He completed his degree in three years and earned a 3.94 grade point average. At commencement, Gonyea was presented with the VTSU Lyndon Alumni Council Outstanding Graduatiing Senior Award, He was also named the Outstanding Senior Business Student. He has been named to the President's List five times and the Dean's List once.
Gonyea was named the NAC Men's Basketball Outstanding Senior Scholar Athlete this season. He was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team and the National Association of Basketball Coaches Honors Court as both a junior and a senior and was a NAC All-Academic Team selection in all three years at Lyndon.
Gonyea has served on Lyndon's Student Athlete Advisory Committee for three years and was SAAC Vice President as a junior and a senior. He was one of the organizers of SAAC's Trunk or Treat program, which brought Halloween cheer to the campus and the community. Gonyea was also one of 300 people nationally selected to attend the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum in 2023.
Gonyea has also been active in service to the campus and the community. He has been a part of the athletic department game crew since his arrival at Lyndon, and has been an organizer of multiple service projects, including volunteering at the Caledonia Country Fair, wood stacking for community members, conducting middle school basketball clinics for Kingdom East School District and Good Shepherd Catholic School, and coaching AAU basketball and at the VTSU Lyndon Hornets Summer Basketball Camp. Gonyea received the Skip Pound Service to Athletics Award in both his junior and senior years.
Gonyea was the captain of the men's basketball team in each of the past two seasons. He received the Michael Tessier Award the past two seasons, and was selected as the Most Outstanding Teammate as a freshman. This year he was the recipient of the Dudley Bell Award, given to Lyndon's outstanding male athlete.
This past season Gonyea was named to the D3hoops.com All-Region 1 3rd Team, only the second Lyndon men's player ever to be so honored. He was a NAC 1st Team All-Conference selection. Gonyea was the leading scorer in the conference, averaging 20.8 points per game and was among the conference leaders in field goal percentage and three-point percentage. He was also the leading scorer in conference games only, averaging 23.7 points per game. Gonyea was a two-time Player of the Week this season and was named to the d3Hoops.com Team of the Week, the only Lyndon player to be so named in the history of the award and one of only two NAC players to be named this season. Gonyea has scored 1,101 points in three seasons and only 64 games.
Gonyea also ran for the Hornet cross country team in 2023-24.
Gonyea has been accepted into Vermont State's Master of Business Administration program and plans to return to Lyndon in the fall to compete in his final season for the Hornets. He shared his thoughts on his time as an undergraduate student athlete. " I always admired high school and college athletes as a child. I remember thinking that they were the coolest people. Now that I've been lucky enough to be in that position myself, I try to do my best every day to be the kind of role model I always looked for. Whether I'm at school or back home, I want to be someone the youth can look up to. I don't want them to just see me as a basketball player, but as a good person."
Gonyea especially enjoyed his experiences working with young people. "Helping the youth is easily my favorite part of being a student-athlete. I've coached at camps, helped run clinics, and volunteered back home at my former school with an AAU team. Every time I interact with the younger generation, I try to be encouraging and supportive. I know how much it meant when someone older believed in me, and I want to give that same feeling back. Even a simple high five or a little advice can go a long way."
Gonyea added "I want people to remember me as a good teammate, student, and a person. Whether I'm stacking wood for someone in the area, hosting a recruit, or helping at a campus event, I try to bring the same positive energy and attitude every time. Being nominated for NAC Man of the Year is a privilege. It shows that the work I've put in matters, but I couldn't have done it alone. I'm grateful every day for the support of everyone in my life."
Gonyea is among six outstanding male student-athletes that have been nominated for the NAC Man of the Year award. The NAC Man of the Year will be announced on July 1 and honored on his campus during the 2025-26 academic year.
The NAC Man of the Year award is modeled after the NCAA Woman of the Year program, which honors graduating student athletes who distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletic excellence, service, and leadership. The NAC also selects a Woman of the Year using the same model, nominees for which were released on June 24. These are the two preeminent awards presented annually by the conference.
Member schools nominate student athletes from their own institution, then NAC Athletic Directors and Senior Woman Administrators vote to select the Man of the Year. Scoring for the academic achievement section is based on the undergraduate cumulative grade-point average of the nominee. Scoring for athletic excellence is based on the nominee's honors and accomplishments including awards and championships, and scoring for service and leadership is based on their involvement in campus and community activities and organizations over the course of their collegiate career. Administrators also consider a short personal statement written by each nominee.
