Athletic Director

ATHLETIC DIRECTOR SCOTT SCHUMACHER

Scott Schumacher is in his 10th year as the Blinn College athletic director. In 2020-21, Schumacher oversaw a Buccaneer athletic department that captured one national title in dance and had five teams earn trips to national tournaments. The Blinn volleyball, men’s golf, women’s golf, dance, and cheer teams competed at nationals, while the volleyball and men’s golf teams also won conference championships. In addition, the Blinn volleyball, women’s soccer, men’s soccer, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s golf, women’s golf, baseball, and softball teams made trips to Region XIV tournaments. The Blinn dance team made history by claiming its eighth consecutive national title and third straight in Team Performance at the 2021 National Cheer Association & National Dance Association Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championships. The dance team placed second in Pom Open and cheer team placed second in Advanced Small Coed in the junior college division. The Blinn volleyball team finished fifth in the nation after earning a trip to the NJCAA Division I Volleyball Championship. The Buccaneers won the conference championship with a 12-1 record and concluded the season with a 27-3 overall record. The Blinn men’s and women’s golf teams made history by claiming spots in the NJCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships. The men’s team finished 19th in the nation, while ranked 16th in the national poll. The women’s team finished 13th in the nation, while ranked 14th in the national poll. In addition, the men’s team won the Region XIV Championship and Blinn’s Riley Simmons was named the Region XIV Tournament Champion. Other highlights in 2020-21 included volleyball players Jayde Shelton, Loren Scott, and women’s basketball player Hailey Atwood earning NJCAA All-America honors, Shelton and Atwood being named Region XIV Players of the Year, Scott winning the Region XIV Setter of the Year Award, and Atwood earning Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC) Player of the Year honors. In addition, Shelton, Marco Rodriguez Jr. (men’s soccer), Hope Hillhouse (women’s soccer), and Dylan Theut (baseball) were named NJCAA Players of the Week. In May, Blinn head softball coach Rick Church was inducted into the NJCAA Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Class of 2021. This prestigious honor was given to Church, who has accumulated 928 career wins, and currently ranks 14th in all-time softball wins in the NJCAA. Blinn head coaches Terry Gamble (volleyball), Jeff Jenkins (women’s basketball), and David Johnson (men’s golf) were named Region XIV Coaches of the Year. A record 196 student-athletes were named to the spring athletic director’s honor roll and four Blinn student-athletes were named Atkinson Cup Award winners after maintaining perfect 4.0 grade point averages (GPA) throughout two years at Blinn. Blinn has captured 42 national championships since 1987, including 16 national championships under Schumacher. Schumacher also serves as the head men’s basketball coach. In 31 years as a junior college head coach, Schumacher has compiled a career record of 594-358. He ranks 14th in all-time wins among active men’s basketball coaches across 439 NJCAA programs. He has led three different junior college programs to conference championships and a top10 national ranking in the NJCAA polls. Schumacher is in his 35th year coaching basketball at the collegiate level and 13th year as an NJCAA athletic director.

ASSISTANT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR JAKE GORDON

Jake Gordon enters his third year as the Buccaneers’ assistant athletic director and his eighth season with an NJCAA athletic department. Gordon returned to Blinn College after serving two seasons as the assistant athletic director at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, Ohio. Gordon is in charge of eligibility for all Blinn athletic teams, game day operations, and live streaming all home games on the Blinn College Athletics YouTube channel. While at Lakeland, Gordon assisted the athletic director with the day-today operations of the athletic department, eligibility, and the Athletic and Fitness Center (AFC). He was in charge of athletic communications, administered the website, promoted the College’s seven NJCAA Division II sports programs, administered an academic tracking system for student-athletes, oversaw the academic retention program for student athletes, and held event management duties. Prior to Lakeland, Gordon got his start in a collegiate athletic department as Blinn's communication and sports information specialist. He served in the role for three seasons. While at Blinn, Gordon was instrumental in promoting the accomplishments of an athletic department that won a volleyball national championship in 2014, four national titles in cheer and dance, and made three national tournament appearances in volleyball, women’s basketball, and softball. His duties as a sports information specialist included producing press release for all athletic events, taking photos at athletic competitions and events, interviewing coaches and student-athletes, administering the athletic website and social media sites, and collaborating with local and national media to help the College gain positive attention. Prior to working at Blinn, Gordon worked at various newspapers in the state of Utah, including The Vernal Express, Salt Lake Tribune, Tooele Transcript-Bulletin, and Deseret News. While at the Vernal Express, he served as the sports editor, covering high school and local sports for Uintah County, designing sports pages, and maintaining the sports section of the website. He is a native of Tooele, Utah, and received his bachelor’s degree in mass communication from the University of Utah and Master of Business Administration in sports administration from Saint Leo (Fla.) University. Jake and his wife, Tiffany, have one daughter, Lucy, and one son, Andrew.