FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
Bob Mumma has been promoted to head baseball coach at UMBC, Director of Athletics Dr. Charles Brown announced today.
“Bob Mumma bleeds black and gold,” Dr. Brown said. “He was an outstanding student-athlete for the Retrievers, earning All-Conference honors and national recognition as an Academic All-American. After playing professionally in the White Sox organization, he came back to UMBC and has been a dedicated assistant coach. He deserves an opportunity to skipper the Retrievers. I am looking forward to seeing him lead our baseball program back to prominence.”
After a stellar collegiate career at UMBC and two seasons of professional baseball, Mumma returned to his alma mater in the fall of 1996 and has served as the Retrievers’ assistant baseball coach for the past 15 seasons.
Mumma succeeds John Jancuska, who coached the Retrievers from 1978-2011. Tom Rider (1967-75) and Hal Sparks (1976-77) are the only other coaches to pilot the UMBC baseball team in the program’s 45 years of varsity competition.
“I am extremely excited to have this opportunity,” Mumma said. “Other than trying to be a Major League player, it was my dream to be a head coach, and once I got into coaching, this was where I wanted to be a head coach. I am very thankful to Dr. Brown for the opportunity to become the fourth head coach in UMBC history, and to Coach Jancuska for being a great mentor for 15 years in the coaching arena. Our goal now is put together a solid campaign and become perennial powers in the America East.”
The Rising Sun, Md., native competed as a catcher at UMBC from 1990-92. In his freshman campaign, Mumma slugged 14 home runs and hit .339, earning a place on the Coppertone Freshman All-America squad. The following season, he hit .395 with 15 round-trippers and 53 RBIs, earning Player of the Year honors from the East Coast Conference. He was also named to the ECAC, All-East Region and East Coast Conference first teams. Mumma capped his collegiate career by hitting .346 with 13 home runs and 53 RBIs in 1992, as the Retrievers earned an at-large bid and competed in their first NCAA Division I tournament.
Mumma earned East Coast Conference First Team honors in 1992 and was also named to the GTE Academic All-America squad.
He was drafted in the 13th round by the Chicago White Sox in June 1992 and signed a professional contract with the club. The backstop completed his economics degree in May 1993 and played for two years in the White Sox system.
Mumma is the Retrievers’ all-time leader in home runs (42), is tied for second in RBIs (152) and ranks among the top 10 in six other offensive categories. He was selected to the UMBC Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997 and currently serves on the school’s Hall of Fame selection committee.
Prior to becoming a full-time assistant coach in September 2005, Mumma served as an academic counselor in the UMBC Athletics EXCELL program, working with all of the university’s student-athletes.
Mumma, who received his MBA from the University of Baltimore in the spring of 2000, resides in Elkridge, Md., with his wife, Kristy Hartman-Mumma, a 1999 UMBC alumnae who served as UMBC’s head field hockey coach from 2000-05.
