John Bluem

John Bluem
Personal information
Date of birth	April 17, 1953 (age 71)
Place of birth	Wheeling, West Virginia, United States
Position(s)	Defender
College career
Years	Team
1972–1974	Hartwick Hawks
Senior career*
Years	Team
1975–1976	Tampa Bay Rowdies (indoor)
1975–1976	Tampa Bay Rowdies
Managerial career
1991–1996	Fresno State Bulldogs
1997–2017	Ohio State Buckeyes
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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.