BLUEFIELD - On Sunday, August 16 Bluefield State College announced the addition of 12 new sports. In a matter of four months the Interim Director of Athletics, Derrick Price, and his administrative team have managed to hire five out of the seven new head coaches.
To achieve this task in a short period of time, the athletic department enlisted assistance from the campus community. Each hiring committee formulated its process to identify the unique characteristics of the coach that was needed for each individual sport.
To kick off the new hires, Bluefield State was excited to announce Tony Coaxum as the Head Football Coach. Coaxum comes to BSC from the University of Northern Colorado where he was the special team's coordinator and defensive backs coach. Coaxum also coached for the Denver Broncos from 2015-2017 as an assistant special team's coordinator, during which time the Broncos won the 2016 Super Bowl.
Following Coaxum, Daulton Cooper was brought on as the Head Women's Bowling Coach. Hailing from Dayton, Ohio where he studied education at Urbana University. During his time at Urbana, he finished in the top ten in the country every year including a runner-up finish in 2013-2014. He was also an Academic All-American 2013-2015.
Our next hire was the Head Wrestling Coach, Blaze Shade. Coming from the University of North Carolina Pembroke, Shade coached six Division II All-Americans, 1 Division II National Finalist, 18 Division II national qualifiers, 16 NWCA All-Americans, two Conference Championship Teams, and one Super Region II Championship team. Blaze's wrestling career accomplishments consist of being a four-time Division II national qualifier, a three-time Division II All-American, and a two-time Division II National Finalist. He was also a two-time First Team All-Conference in the East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC) and the ECAC Wrestler of the year in 2015-2016.
Tumbling in from King University our Head Acrobatics and Tumbling Coach, Olivia Kincaid. She was awarded National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association (NCATA) All-Conference in the Conference Carolinas and nationally ranked All-Academic Team in 2020. Kincaid is excited to lead the only Historically Black College Acro and Tumbling team in the nation.
Wrapping up the first wave of new head coaches is our Head Women's Soccer, Scott Forster. Coach Forster will be joining us from Montana State University Billings. During his time as the Assistant Coach at MSUB the program became an academic powerhouse ranking 6th in the NCAA Division II for academic success placing 15 players as Academic All-Conference. Prior to MSUB, Forster guided the San Jose State Men's club soccer team to the most successful season in their history with the capture of the West Coast Soccer Associations Open Cup. Academically Forster has completed his Ph.D. and Honors degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Exeter, UK.
Bluefield State would like to officially welcome each head coach and is looking forward to a dynamic first season. With the support of the athletics department and campus community, we know they will make positive contributions to Bluefield State.
