Mike Blum to Return to Gardner-Webb as Head Coach

Gardner-Webb University announced today that Mike Blum will return to the school as head coach for the 2019-2020 season. Blum previously worked at Gardner-Webb as an assistant during the 2011-2012 season. He replaces Scott Teeters, who left one season after replacing longtime coach Mike Simpson.

Blum has served in a variety of positions since he was last in Boiling Springs. Last season, he was an assistant at UNC, a school which just announced yesterday that they’d hired Mark Gangloff as head coach after Rich DeSelm‘s departure earlier this spring. Prior to that, Blum spent three seasons as head coach at Florida Southern College, as well as previously serving as an assistant there and on staff at several club/YMCA teams.

Gardner-Webb competes in the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association, where last season the men placed 4th out of 7 teams, and the women’s team placed 8th out of 9 teams.

While Blum’s departure from UNC doesn’t create another vacant head coach position as the springtime Division I head coach carousel continues to revolve, it will mean that Gangloff will need to fill at least one spot on his staff.

Full Release

Courtesy of Gardner-Webb Athletics

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Gardner-Webb has announced the hiring of Mike Blum as head coach of its men’s and women’s swimming programs in advance of the 2019-20 season.

Blum, who was an assistant at Gardner-Webb for the 2011-12 season, returns after most recently spending time on the staff at the University of North Carolina, where he helped guide seven swimmers to qualify for the 2019 NCAA Division I Championships.

Prior to joining the staff at North Carolina, Blum was the head coach at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Fla. for three seasons.  His teams totaled 45 NCAA Division II qualifiers, and had 88 NCAA D-II All-American award winners.  He had two relay teams win NCAA championships, as well as one individual championship and was named the 2016 CSCAA Men’s Swimming National Coach of the Year.

“I would like to thank Vice President for Athletics Chuck Burch and the Gardner-Webb University administration for this amazing opportunity,” Blum said. “This is a special team and I feel honored to have been chosen to be a part of it.  My family and I are excited to get back to Boiling Springs and we are excited to raise our son in such an amazing community.  We are looking forward to the to the upcoming season and many more after.”

Blum was an assistant at Florida Southern for two different three-year stints, where his swimmers won seven NCAA D-II national championships and earned 56 All-American honors.  He also saw two swimmers qualify for the 2013 World Championships and one qualifier for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.

Blum was an assistant for the 2011-12 season at Gardner-Webb, in which his swimmers set six new school records.  That season, the men’s team placed third at the 2012 Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) Championships, while the women’s squad took home a fourth-place result.

“Mike has great experience, shares an understanding of the overall mission here at Gardner-Webb University and will be a tremendous leader for our swim programs going forward,” Vice President for Athletics Chuck Burch said. “His vision for the programs and commitment to the overall development of our student-athletes are parallel to our expectations. We are excited to have him on campus soon.”

Since March 2012, Blum has also been the head coach and owner of the Lakeland Area Swimming club program, guiding numerous Florida Age Group qualifiers and champions, and instructed swimmers that took part in the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics in the 400-meter freestyle and the 100-meter butterfly.

He also spent time as an assistant senior coach at the Venice YMCA in Sarasota, Fla from August 2010 to March 2011, where he coached four FHSAA state qualifiers, one FHSAA state champion, one Senior National and Olympic Trials qualifier and the 2011 Florida Swimming Senior Championship team champions.

Blum, who is originally from New Port Richey, Fla., is a 2008 graduate of Florida Southern College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physical Education.

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Karl Kozicki
4 years ago

Gardner Webb should be ashamed of the way they have destroyed Coach Teeters coaching career. Scott is one of the most passionate and innovative coaching minds I have ever known. In addition to his out of the box ways of teaching skills he understands how capilarization and good old fashion hard work are the cornerstone of training and racing.
At Gardner Webb he was sabotaged every step of the way by his graduate assistant who was the daughter of the previous coach. His infectious positivity was not allowed to flourish because the seeds of decent were sown from day one among the upperclassmen that were not willing to trust the process.
Scott has had a stellar 40 year… Read more »

G-Dubb Swimmer
4 years ago

Super excited to have Coach Blum this upcoming season! My teammates and I are looking forward to the start of next semester!

Hoj
4 years ago

Honestly best hire of the year

AlsoAnAlum
4 years ago

Great decision! Blum knows how to coach PEOPLE (not just swimmers) and knows GWU. looking forward to seeing great things in the coming seasons with him and who he chooses to be on staff. SKO DAWGS

DrSwimPhil
4 years ago

Fantastic hire! Blum is going to continue doing great things as a head coach!

Once a dawg always a dawg
4 years ago

Reading these comments is disheartening. I pray that Blum is able to move into a team who can move on from the past. Coach Mike and Coach Teeters are both human, and I am not sure why there are people on the team still commenting on the past. What is done is done. I pray that the team focuses on the here and now! Best of luck to Blum and the team at Gardner-Webb. It is a special place. It isn’t always about the swimming, it is about growing as people and as a family. I hope that the team can really come together as one once again!

SpursUp
4 years ago

Looks like Coach Simpson isn’t too popular among NBA players. I mean, nobody cares what Jonas Jerebko thinks, but when Giannis gets involved that hurts. But I respect that they both had the guts to put their names on their comments. Integrity move. Not everyone has the guts.

SpursUp
Reply to  SpursUp
4 years ago

Where did you swim?

PepperMintz
Reply to  SpursUp
4 years ago

Working hard in practice pays off.
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”

SpursUp
Reply to  PepperMintz
4 years ago

Lol you’re the same person. It’s just getting sad now.

SpursUp
Reply to  PepperMintz
4 years ago

Are you talking about yourself?

GWUswammer
Reply to  PepperMintz
4 years ago

Giannis is right, I swam under coach mike 2 years ago and he lied to several swimmers by making promises he couldn’t keep. Of course some gwu swimmers will be biased and say he did nothing wrong and ignore all the wrongdoing he did. He treated some swimmers very wrong and I wont forgive him for it.

PeaceLoveAndPositivity
4 years ago

The team was well lead by Mike Simpson as seen in results and he definitely had a deep love for that team after 19 years. Maybe he just needed a change. People shouldn’t bash him for what he did. Only Coach Simpson knows the the real reason behind his leaving. No one can really know. I am not and never was a college swimmer just looks that way to me.

PepperMintz
Reply to  PeaceLoveAndPositivity
4 years ago

You only missed the scoring team, if you: lied to the coaches, were lazy, broke team rules, and had no respect for the team. (which a certain someone did) Coach Mike Simpson cared more about the people on the team than anyone I know. Coach Scott was a great SWIM coach, but lacked organization and communication. I swam under both of them.

SpursUp
Reply to  PepperMintz
4 years ago

Aren’t you Giannis? Kinda blew your cover.

Admin
Reply to  PepperMintz
4 years ago

Seems to me like maybe you all should have a private conversation about this. Seems to be a lot of passion here.

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