Allen Gum (born July 22, 1969) is a former American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

coach and player. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

Crowder College Crowder College is a public community college in Neosho, Missouri. It serves the Community College District of Newton and McDonald counties in southwestern Missouri and other outlying areas. The school enrolled 4,398 in 2019. Established in 1963 ...

from 1988 to 1989 before transferring to Southern Arkansas. He then served as the head coach of the Southern Arkansas Muleriders (2006–2010) and the

Central Arkansas Bears The Central Arkansas Bears and Sugar Bears represent the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) in NCAA Division I's Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA football) as a member of the ASUN Conference. The athletic program is supported b ...

(2011–2021).

Pre-collegiate coaching

Gum played two seasons at

before completing his eligibility at Southern Arkansas. Both seasons with the Muleriders, he batted above .300 and helped lead the team to conference championships. In his junior season, Southern Arkansas reached the

NAIA World Series The NAIA World Series (officially branded as the Avista NAIA World Series for sponsorship purposes from 2013) is a double-elimination tournament, held since 1957, to determine the baseball champion of the National Association of Intercollegiate At ...

, where Gum was awarded the Charles Berry Hustle Award. He then served as an assistant coach at Sheridan High School in

Sheridan, Arkansas Sheridan is a city and county seat of Grant County, Arkansas, United States. The community is located deep in the forests of the Arkansas Timberlands. It sits at the intersection of US Highways 167 and 270. Early settlers were drawn to the area ...

for six years before becoming head coach at Batesville High School in

Batesville, Arkansas Batesville is the county seat and largest city of Independence County, Arkansas, United States, 80 miles (183 km) northeast of Little Rock, the state capital. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city was 10,268. The city serve ...

in 2000. He remained at Batesville through the 2003 season, compiling a record of 75–25, and finishing as state runners up in both 2002 and 2003.

Collegiate coaching career

In 2004, Gum became an assistant at Southern Arkansas. He was elevated to the top job in 2006. In five seasons, the Muleriders won 40 or more games every year, reached the Division II College World Seriesin 2009, won two conference championships, four Regionals, and the number one national ranking for 24 weeks during the course of three seasons. In the

2010 MLB Draft The 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held on June 7–9, 2010 at the MLB Network Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey. First-round selections The draft order was determined based on the 2009 MLB standings, with the worst team pic ...

, Muleriders pitcher Hayden Simpson was picked 16th overall by the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

, the highest Division II players to be drafted that year. In July 2010, Gum became head coach at Central Arkansas. He led the Bears to their first

Southland Conference baseball tournament The Southland Conference baseball tournament is the conference championship tournament in baseball for the Southland Conference. The winner of the tournament receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I baseball tournament. Tou ...

title in 2013, and reached the Regional final before falling to eventual national runner-up

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

. Gum announced that the 2021 season would be his last at Central Arkansas, retiring from coaching.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Allen Gum
2020 Coaching Staff - University of Central Arkansas {{DEFAULTSORT:Gum, Allen Living people 1969 births Central Arkansas Bears baseball coaches Crowder Roughriders baseball players High school baseball coaches in the United States Southern Arkansas Muleriders baseball coaches Southern Arkansas Muleriders baseball players