Print This Page

Allen Gum – Head Coach

Allen Gum is in his fourth year as head coach of the Southern Arkansas baseball program. He also serves as a recruiting coordinator in the office of admissions at the university.

Gum’s first year at the helm of the Muleriders proved to be quite a successful one as he led the team to a 40-18 overall record and the program’s first-ever Gulf South Conference championship. SAU advanced to the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament, making it to the semi-finals before their season ended as the 18th-ranked team in the country.

Last years team reached the #1 ranking for the first time in the history of the program, finished 46-12, their third straight year of 40 or more wins, and again advanced to the Gulf South Conference Tournament as well as to the semifinals of the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament. They finished the season ranked #10 in the nation.

A native of Bentonville, Gum played collegiate baseball at Crowder Community College (now Crowder College) in Neosho, Mo., before playing two years at Southern Arkansas for Coach Steve Goodheart, who retired in 2003 after coaching the Muleriders for 23 years. Gum is a member of the Crowder College Baseball Hall of Fame.

In 1990, Gum led SAU in hitting as a junior outfielder with a .338 average, and fielded .975 as Southern Arkansas won the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) championship with a 20-4 record, and finished with a 27-23 overall record. As a senior, Gum hit .328 and fielded .961 while helping the Muleriders win their sixth consecutive AIC championship with a 20-4 record, and an overall record of 44-15-1. The 1991 team also won the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Area 5 Tournament by defeating the nation’s number-one ranked team, North Florida, in the championship game, to advance to the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho. Gum was honored with the Charles Berry Hustle Award at the World Series.

Prior to returning to Southern Arkansas, Gum served as assistant baseball coach at Sheridan High School for six years, before moving to Batesville as the head baseball coach in 2000. Batesville had a 75-25 record in his three years with the Pioneers, and was the Class AAAA runner-up in 2002 and 2003.

Gum is married to the former Shenna Calloway of Strong. The Gums’ have two sons, Tyler and Calloway.

Modified: February 11, 2009 at 11:16 am