John Bluem (born 1953) is an American former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

defender and most recently a coach for the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...

. Bluem played professionally in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

. After retiring from playing, Bluem became a men's college soccer coach.

Player

Bluem attended

Hartwick College Hartwick College is a private liberal arts college in Oneonta, New York. The institution's origin is rooted in the founding of Hartwick Seminary in 1797 through the will of John Christopher Hartwick. In 1927, the seminary became a four-year coll ...

, playing on the men's soccer team from 1972 to 1974. In 1975, he graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in history. He was inducted into the Hartwick Warrior, now the Hawks, Hall of Fame in 2002. That year, the

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

selected Bluem in fourth round of the

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 The University of Akron is a public university, public research university in Akron, Ohio, United States. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM fields, STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advance ...

. In 1991, he was hired as head coach of the

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

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 The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

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 The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

titles. His greatest success came in the 2007 Division I Men's College Cup when Ohio State finished runner-up to Wake Forest. Blue
announced his retirement
from Ohio State on March 19, 2018.

Broadcasting

Bluem was the radio color analyst for

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

home games from 2007 to 2014.

References

External links

NASL statsOhio State: John Bluem

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bluem, John 1953 births University of Akron alumni American soccer coaches American men's soccer players Fresno State Bulldogs men's soccer coaches Hartwick Hawks men's soccer players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Ohio State Buckeyes men's soccer coaches Tampa Bay Rowdies draft picks Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players Living people Sportspeople from Wheeling, West Virginia Soccer players from West Virginia Men's association football midfielders 20th-century American sportsmen