John Gump has spent the last eight years continuing APSCUF’s fight for coaches. Rob Fulton of Shippensburg University aims to use his experience to continue this fight as the new coach executive leader for the union. This is only the second time since the coaches’ first collective bargaining agreement in 2002 that APSCUF has had a change in coach leadership, with the first leader, Keith White, taking office in 2014. Gump said Fulton’s experience on the negotiating team will be valuable, as the soccer coach starts his new position with the union.
Rob Fulton, left, is APSCUF’s new coach executive leader, succeeding John Gump. Photo/Kathryn Morton
Gump has been with APSCUF since the nascent days of coach representation. He also served as the coach executive leader from 2016 until the beginning of June, when Fulton took on the position. As the coach leader, Gump said the moment he was most proud of was the unity the coaches showed when the faculty went on strike in 2016.
“Even though the coaches did not go out, seeing our coaches on the picket line with their faculty colleagues on campuses across the System, I felt like that was a moment that the unity of our two bargaining units was at its peak, and the union was at its strongest,” he said.
Gump’s advice for his successor is to ask questions, saying there are many people within the organization who are knowledgeable.
“I leaned on them incredibly, incredibly, often,” he said.
Fulton learned of the importance of unions as he continued his athletic career. He joined APSCUF shortly after becoming a coach at Ship. He mentioned the benefits of being united while pursuing a challenging profession.
“A union provides its members a voice,” he said.
Within APSCUF, Fulton has worked alongside President Ken Mash and Gump, as well as with Dave Springer, the former coach president for Shippensburg-APSCUF. Fulton’s experiences include sitting on the coach-negotiation team for the past two contracts. He said Gump was extremely knowledgeable and dealt with coach issues and concerns with a great devotion to the union. Gump also did this with a sense of humor and positivity, Fulton said.
“He’s been a great influence,” Fulton said. “(I) really look up to him and have admired just his knowledge and the skills he’s acquired over the years to be an effective leader for our coaching group.”
Fulton said he plans to first learn the ins and outs of his new position and to speak with his chapter coach presidents. He said he’ll support the chapter coach leaders. In doing this, he said, he will also have to stay up-to-date on coaches’ issues throughout the State System, including issues relating to the coaches’ CBA. Fulton will give a coach report at legislative assembly and attend monthly State APSCUF executive-council meetings. Once he spends some time as the coach leader, he will begin to develop his long-term vision.
Coaches should get involved in APSCUF, Fulton said, as greater representation leads to a stronger voice, which in turn leads to better conditions for those who are part of the union.
ABOUT THE COACHES
John Gump was head coach of the Kutztown University women’s volleyball team from 1997 until 2021. He served as the coach executive leader from 2016 until June 1. Gump received his bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University in 1988. Rob Fulton has been at Shippensburg University since 2004, and he’s been the head coach of the women’s soccer team since 2006. Fulton received his bachelor’s from Graceland College in 1992, and his master’s in 1999 from Southwest Texas State University. Fulton holds licensing in coaching from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and the United States Soccer Federation.
—Jesse Daugherty,
APSCUF intern