John Bluem Explained

John Bluem
Birth Date:17 April 1953
Birth Place:Wheeling, West Virginia, United States
Position:Defender
Collegeyears1:1972–1974
College1:Hartwick Hawks
Years1:1975–1976
Years2:1975–1976
Clubs1:Tampa Bay Rowdies (indoor)
Clubs2:Tampa Bay Rowdies
Caps2:15
Goals2:0
Manageryears1:1991–1996
Manageryears2:1997–2017
Managerclubs2:Ohio State Buckeyes

John Bluem (born 1953) is an American former soccer defender and most recently a coach for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Bluem played professionally in the North American Soccer League. After retiring from playing, Bluem became a men's college soccer coach.

Player

Bluem attended Hartwick College, playing on the men's soccer team from 1972 to 1974. In 1975, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. He was inducted into the Hartwick Warrior, now the Hawks, Hall of Fame in 2002.[1] That year, the Tampa Bay Rowdies selected Bluem in fourth round of the North American Soccer League draft. He played the 1975 NASL indoor season before playing two outdoor seasons with the Rowdies, winning the 1975 NASL championship with them.

Coach

In 1984, Bluem earned a master's degree in sports education from the University of Akron. In 1991, he was hired as head coach of the Fresno State men's soccer team. Over the next six seasons, he took the Bulldogs to four NCAA post-season tournaments and compiled an 86–27–12 record. His best season came in 1996 when Fresno State went 17–5–1, won the first WAC title and finished the season ranked seventh in the nation. In 1997, Bluem moved to Ohio State to coach the Buckeye's men's soccer team. Since then, he has taken Ohio State to six NCAA post-season tournaments and won three Big Ten titles. His greatest success came in the 2007 Division I Men's College Cup when Ohio State finished runner-up to Wake Forest. Bluem announced his retirement from Ohio State on March 19, 2018.

Broadcasting

Bluem was the radio color analyst for Columbus Crew home games from 2007 to 2014.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2002 Inductees . 2010-10-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100528000650/http://www.hartwick.edu/x11255.xml . 2010-05-28 . dead .