Text Only Version


Online Sponsors For October
Click here for all online sponsors

 

 

Kutztown University - Athletics
 

Baseball
Coaching Staff

last updated 05/18/2009

Head Coach
Chris Blum

e-mail Coach Blum

Chris Blum finished his seventh season as head coach of the Kutztown University baseball program in 2009. In his seven years at KU, Blum has elevated the Golden Bear program to unprecedented heights as a perennial Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) and North Atlantic Regional contender.

Blum has amassed a 259-113 record over the past seven years, including a 102-44 mark in the PSAC East. He has led KU to the 2005, 2006 and 2008 PSAC crowns, the 2007 North Atlantic Regional title, and seven-straight appearances in the NCAA regional tournament. The 259 wins are the most in any seven-year span in program history. He was the fastest Pennsylvania baseball to reach 200 wins. In addition, seven of his players have gone on to play professional baseball.

Under Blum, the Golden Bears finished the 2009 season with a 34-18 overall record. KU finished 16-8 in the PSAC East regular season for second place. The Golden Bears finished in fourth place at the PSAC Championships and fourth place at the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional. In the 2009 season, Blum coached the PSAC East Pitcher of the Year (Darin Gorski) and PSAC East Rookie of the Years (Shayne Houck).

In 2008, Blum led a young, inexperienced team through the tough regular season, winning seven of their last 10 regular-season PSAC East contests to qualify for the postseason, where the Golden Bears battled through the loser's bracket to take the PSAC title with two wins over West Chester.

In 2007, Blum guided KU to a school-record 49 wins. The Golden Bears spent the week of April 30 as the No. 1-ranked team in Division II, a first for a KU sports team and for a ball club from the North Atlantic Region. The Bears won the PSAC East regular-season title and the NCAA Division II North Atlantic Regional, finishing seventh in the nation. KU was 49-7 overall, 19-1 in the PSAC East. Blum was the PSAC East and Regional Coach of the Year, and his players earned numerous all-conference, all-region and All-America honors.

In 2006, KU set a then-school record with a 44-14 overall, 15-5 PSAC East mark. KU won the PSAC title for the progam’s first-ever back-to-back conference crowns. He was named PSAC East Coach of the Year. In 2005, Kutztown won the PSAC Championship, and finished 39-18 overall, 10-8 in the PSAC East. In 2004, Blum’s team was 25-15, including a 17-7 mark in the Eastern Division. The Golden Bears finished as the PSAC runners-up. Blum garnered his first PSAC East and Regional Coach of the Year awards. KU won the North Atlantic Regional tournament. In his first season, Blum guided KU to a 25-15 overall record and 17-7 record in the PSAC East. KU finished third at regionals.

Prior to taking over as head coach, Blum served as assistant coach for eight seasons.

Kutztown has won PSAC Eastern Division titles in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2007; PSAC Championships in 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2008; won the North Atlantic Regional tournament in 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2007.

In college, Blum played at Elizabethtown College, winning multiple division titles, a MAC Championship, and qualifying for two NCAA Division III regional tournaments. He graduated in 1993 with a bachelor of science degree in communications.

Blum, 36, began his coaching career at Muhlenberg High School, his alma mater. He was an assistant for four years. Prior to taking over at Kutztown, Blum had been head coach of the Berkshire Red Sox of the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League. Improving from a 13-17 record its first season, Blum guided his team to the championship game in 2002, finishing with a record of 25-12.

Assistant Coach - Chad Derck     

Chad Derck completed his seventh season on the KU staff in 2009.

He came to Kutztown after serving as head coach at Shikellamy High School from 1999 to 2002.

Derck is a 1996 graduate of Susquehanna University, where he was a four-year letterwinner in baseball. A captain as a senior, he set the school record for fielding percentage in 1995.

 




15200 Kutztown Road • Kutztown PA. 19530
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania • P.O. Box 730 • Kutztown, PA 19530
(610) 683-4000 • TDD (610) 683-1315, (610) 683-4499
Member of Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education

Annual Safety, Security and Crime Statistics Report
Emergency Response and Evacuation Procedures (PDF)

The Text Only Version is a standard of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Copyright 1994-2010 Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. All Rights Reserved.
The KU logo is a registered mark of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.
Please read our privacy statement.