Mike Gardner (football coach)
Encyclopedia

Playing career

Gardner played college football for NAIA
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is an athletic association that organizes college and university-level athletic programs. Membership in the NAIA consists of smaller colleges and universities across the United States. The NAIA allows colleges and universities outside the USA...

 school Baker University
Baker University
Baker University is a private, residential university located in Baldwin City, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1858, it is the oldest university in Kansas and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Baker University is made up of four schools...

 in Baldwin City, Kansas
Baldwin City, Kansas
Baldwin City is a city in Douglas County, Kansas, United States about south of Lawrence and west of Gardner. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 4,515. It is part of the Lawrence, Kansas Metropolitan Statistical Area...

 from 1986 to 1990, where he held a school record 53 yard field goal
Field goal (football)
A field goal in American football and Canadian football is a goal that may be scored during general play . Field goals may be scored by a placekick or the now practically extinct drop kick.The drop kick fell out of favor in 1934 when the shape of the ball was changed...

 that was broken in 2007. He was an All-American each of his last three years at Baker

Awards

Gardner served as the Defensive Coordinator at Tabor from 2001 to 2003 and helped guide the Bluejays to their first-ever NAIA national playoff appearance in 2003 and a #15 NAIA
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is an athletic association that organizes college and university-level athletic programs. Membership in the NAIA consists of smaller colleges and universities across the United States. The NAIA allows colleges and universities outside the USA...

 national ranking. He was named the AFCA NAIA Assistant Coach of the Year and the AFLAC Assistant Coach of the Year for the 2003 season. His 2003 defense ranked 11th in the final NAIA statistics while his 2002 team ranked an impressive second overall. In 2005, Gardner was named Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference
The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NAIA. It is commonly called "The Kansas Conference", and as the name implies, all members are located in Kansas...

 "Co-Coach" of the year along with Saint Mary
University of Saint Mary (Kansas)
The University of Saint Mary is a private liberal arts university in Leavenworth, Kansas. It is sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, who established it as Saint Mary College. Though it was originally a school for women, the school is now coeducational. St. Mary's Academy for high...

 coach Lance Hinson
Lance Hinson (football coach)
-Playing History:Hinson coached college football for three years at the University of North Texas.-Assistant coaching:Hinson worked at several schools as an undergraduate/graduate coaching assistant and later as an assistant coach...

.

As a player, Gardner was a three-time NAIA All-American and a four-time All-Conference selection while at Baker University
Baker University
Baker University is a private, residential university located in Baldwin City, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1858, it is the oldest university in Kansas and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Baker University is made up of four schools...

 (KS) and he played for a national championship in 1986. He has been involved in 10 national playoff games as a player and eight as a coach and his 2005 Tabor squad won its first-round playoff contest.

Personal life

Gardner is a 1990 graduate of Baker University
Baker University
Baker University is a private, residential university located in Baldwin City, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1858, it is the oldest university in Kansas and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Baker University is made up of four schools...

 with a Bachelor's Degree in Physical Education. He later earned a Master of Arts in Teaching at Hastings College
Hastings College
Hastings College is a private, undergraduate, four-year, residential liberal arts college in Hastings, Nebraska, USA.- History :The college was founded in 1882 by a group of men and women seeking to establish a Presbyterian college dedicated to high academic and cultural standards...

 in 1993. Gardner and his wife have two children and live in Hilssboro
Hillsboro, Kansas
Hillsboro is a city in Marion County, Kansas, United States. Hillsboro was named after John Gillespie Hill, who homesteaded in the area in 1871. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,993. Hillsboro is home of Tabor College, which has approximately 550 students.-19th century:For...

.

He played junior high and high school football at Olathe South High School
Olathe South High School
Olathe South High School is a fully accredited public high school located in Olathe, Kansas, USA, serving students in grades 9-12. The school is one of four high schools in the Olathe Unified School District . Olathe South High School was recognized as a National School of Excellence for the...

 and Indian Trail Junior High School in Olathe, Kansas
Olathe, Kansas
Olathe is a city in and the county seat of Johnson County, Kansas, United States. Located in northeastern Kansas, it is also the fifth most populous city in the state, with a population of 125,872 at the 2010 census. As a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, Olathe is the fourth-largest city in the...

 plus his seventh grade year at Concordia Junior-Senior High School
Concordia Junior-Senior High School
Concordia Junior-Senior High School is located in Concordia, Kansas and is a part of Unified School District #333. It is called the "Junior-Senior" high school because the junior high school and senior high school are housed in the same building complex.-Junior High, Senior High, and Middle...

 in Concordia, Kansas
Concordia, Kansas
Concordia is a city in and the county seat of Cloud County, Kansas, United States. Located on the Republican River in the Smoky Hills region of the Great Plains, Concordia was founded in 1871 and is an economic and cultural center in north-central Kansas...

.

External links

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