Concordia University - 2009 Baseball Coaches

2009 Baseball

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Baseball Coaches

Karl Kling - Head Coach

Karl Kling enters his sixth season as the head coach of the Concordia Baseball Team as the winningest coach in Concordia history with 101 wins. In Coach Kling's five seasons, the Cards have now averaged 20-wins, while the team never won 20 games in any season prior to his arrival. Coach Kling's five-year win total (101) surpasses the previous best stretch, 1986 through 1990, by nearly 40 games (62).

Last season, the Cardinals finished with a 27-22 mark, setting the school record for wins for the third time in the Kling era. The record was the first winning season since 1990 for the Cardinal program, and only the second team to post a .500 record or better since 1978, when the school became a four-year institution.

Heading into the 2009 season, the team is looking for the first back-to-back winning campaigns since the 1973 and 1974 seasons (when Concordia was a two-year school). The team is very confident that they will only build upon last season, as the team only loses three impact players from the '08 season: WHAC Player of the Year Alex Hoover, All-Region pitcher Justin Gauthier and starting pitcher Drew Linder. The Cardinals believe the first-ever 30 win season will occur in 2009, and with an experienced team returning, the squad is hopeful to reach the 40-win plateau.

In 2006, the Cards set a school record with 23 wins, being the first team in school history to win more than 20 games. In the history of the program, four of the five top seasons in regard to win total have been coached by Kling.

In 2005, Kling guided the Cardinals to their first-ever postseason appearance. The team was one win away from the NAIA Regionals, but fell 5-4 in 16 innings to fall a game short. The 2006 season featured the Cardinals making the second straight playoff appearance, and ended again with Concordia a mere win away from the first-ever Regional appearance. The 2006 squad fell to Indiana Tech 7-5, leaving the bases loaded in the top of the ninth. The 2008 team was the third team to make the playoffs but the first to fail to win a game in the postseason after dropping both games in the WHAC tournament.

In his five seasons, the Cardinals have won 101 games. From 1991 through 2003, a 13-year stretch, Concordia baseball amassed only 93 wins.

Prior to being hired as Head Coach in the summer of 2003, Kling served as an assistant coach to Tim Taylor for two seasons working primarily with the Cardinal outfield and catching corps.

Recently Kling has served as the Director of the Midwest Baseball Academy Camp, hosted by Concordia; was a guest instructor for the independent league Traverse City Beach Bum winter camp, served as the Capital City Classic All-Star game coach held at Oldsmobile Park in Lansing; worked as a instructor for Triple Crown Sports at their Omaha and Myrtle Beach national showcases and has served as the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference baseball chair for the last two seasons.

In addition to serving as the baseball coach, Kling will return as Sports Information Director for a fourth season after spending the two previous years as the University's Athletic Director. Wanting to focus more on the development of the baseball team, Kling stepped down as AD in June of 2005.

Prior to joining the Concordia family, Kling was the pitching and catching coach at South Lyon High School for two seasons. Prior to that, he coached at Pontiac Notre Dame Prepatory High School for five years, as an assistant coach. During that time, the Fighting Irish won the Catholic League C-D championship in 1997. Overall, Kling has been a coach for the past 18 years.

Kling has had a vast and varying career in addition to athletics. Before joining Concordia on a full-time basis in 2003, Kling was editor of The Milford Times, which was named Michigan's Newspaper of the Year in 2002, as well as being awarded First Place in General Excellence from the Michigan Press Association for the year 2001, and Third Place in General Excellence from the Suburban Newspapers of America, also in 2001.

Kling has also served as a Chief of Staff for a state Senator in Lansing, as well as Executive Director of the Oakland County Republican Party for three years in the 1990's. Kling has worked on many political campaigns, most notably serving as the Michigan Director for the Alan Keyes for President campaign in 1996.

Kling currently resides in Howell with his wife Debra and their children. Coach Kling and his wife celebrated their 11th anniversary in December 2008. They have four sons, Brandon (who upon graduating from boot camp of the United States Marine Corps this fall is now in training in the Special Operations Command at Camp LeJuene in North Carolina); Hayden (who is in the 4th grade this year); Dawson (who is in the 2nd grade this year) and Ethan (who is attending pre-school). The Kling family has been one of the charter members of Heart of the Shepherd Lutheran Church in Howell, Michigan since it formed in 2002.

KARL KLING COACHING RECORD

YEAR	SCHOOL	OVERALL	CONFERENCE	PLAYOFFS
2003-04	Concordia	14-42	2-18	Did not qualify
2004-05	Concordia	18-28	5-11	WHAC Semifinals
2005-06	Concordia	23-28	7-9	WHAC Semifinals
2006-07	Concordia	19-29	9-13	Did not qualify
2007-08	Concordia	27-22	11-13	WHAC First Round
CAREER TOTAL		101-149	34-64

Chris Harrison - Assistant Coach

After a couple of years of working with the Concordia University pitching staff on a contract basis, Chris Harrison has agreed to join the Cardinal coaching staff in a more expanded role this season.

Head Coach Karl Kling sought out Coach Harrison a few summers ago to utilize his knowledge and expertise in the area of pitching instruction. Harrison, who owns the Michigan Sports Academy in Ypsilanti, agreed to work with the Cardinal staff throughout the fall and winter months. The Concordia pitching staff has been grealty improved under Coach Harrison's guidance ever since.

After the most successful season in Cardinal history, Coach Kling wanted to upgrade the staff again and turned to Coach Harrison to play a more visible role throughout.

"It's not everyday a small program such as ours has access to someone with the depth of knowledge Coach Harrison has," Kling said. "I realized that the knowledge he has bestowed on the pitchers could also be delivered to our position players, and quite frankly, the rest of the coaching staff as well."

In addition to his ownership of MSA and his work with the Cardinals, Coach Harrison previously served as an assistant and head coach at the University of Michigan from 1995 through 2002. As an assistant, Coach Harrison oversaw the recruiting of the Wolverine program as well as instructing the hitters and infielders, as well as coaching third base and being the point-person for the UofM offense.

Additionally, Coach Harrison has been a trials coach for USA Baseball, the head coach at Master's College in Santa Clarita, California and an assistant baseball coach at three institutions including Kansas State University. Coach Harrison also was an instructor in the Netherlands in 1986 and the head baseball coach for Athletes in Action in 1985 during their tour of Europe.

Coach Harrison played at Oral Roberts University, graduating in 1982 with a Bachelor of Art's degree. Coach Harrison lives in Tecumseh, with his wife and two children.

Mike Kaczmarek - Assistant Coach

Mike Kaczmarek is entering his 17th season as a collegiate baseball coach, spending the last two seasons with the Concordia Cardinal program. In addition, Coach Kaz has spent numerous seasons in the dugout as a skipper for elite summer programs such as the St. Clair Shores Marines, Novi Expos, NFWB Cobras and the South Farmington Blues. Additionally, Kaczmarek spent three summers in Europe coaching baseball, two with the Major League Baseball International in 1993 and 1994.

Collegiately, Kaczmarek most recently served as the head coach at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn for the two seasons prior to coming to Ann Arbor to assist with the Cardinal program. Kaczmarek was also the head coach at Macomb Community College from 2001 through the 2003 season.

Kaczmarek has also served as an assistant coach three different institutions as he spent one season at Eastern Michigan University (2004), two years at the University of Detroit-Mercy (1994 and 1995) and seven seasons at his alma mater Siena Heights University (1992-93 and 1996 through 2000).

As a player, Kaczmarek spent two years as an outfielder for Henry Ford Community College, leading the team in outfield assist both years, before transferring to Siena Heights. Kaczmarek was named All-Conference both seasons as a Saint, leading the team in hits and finishing with a .320 batting average. Kaczmarek also spent time on the mound and finished with a 0.40 earned run average over 22 1/3 innings pitched.

Kaczmarek lives in Green Oak Township with his family.

Ryan McCosky - Assistant Coach

Ryan McCosky will return for a second season as an assistant and will coach the outfielders as well as coordinate the strength and conditioning programs. He completed his playing career with the Cardinals in 2007, earning All-Conference honors as an outfielder. McCosky also earned Academic All-Conference honors during his playing career as a Cardinal.

McCosky started his collegiate career on the west side of the state where he walked on and played for two seasons at Kalamazoo Valley Community College under Coach Bernie Vallier. McCosky transferred to Concordia University in 2005 and played in 90 games over two seasons, starting all 45 games last year.

Coach McCosky is supported by parents Sue and Mike Ross and Chris McCosky. McCosky plans to graduate in May of 2009 with a degree in Physical Education and English. McCosky plans to teach at the secondary level and is currently doing his student teaching in the Whitmore Lake School District.

McCosky is grateful for the opportunity to be apart of this program and to continue to help the young men and the program to grow. McCosky's philosophy embodies hard work and character.

Coach McCosky resides in Ypsilanti.

Matthew Spargalo - Grad Assistant

Matt Spargalo is entering his third season as an assistant with the Concordia University baseball team. Spargalo will be primarily responsible for the catchers as well as serving as the head coach for the Junior Varsity and assisting with the pitching corps.

Spargalo finished his playing career at Concordia in 2006, a season where the former catcher earned conference and region Player of the Week honors and resulting in a All-Conference selection at season's end. Prior to Concordia, Spargalo played for NCAA Division II University of Nebraska-Kearney. Spargalo was a member of the squad that won the Canadian National Championship in 2003.

Already a holder of a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice from Concordia, Spargalo is currently a Graduate Assistant where he will graduate this spring with a Master's in Leadership and Administration. Spargalo is proudly supported by his parents Mike and Flo Spargalo and hopes to continue his coaching career in collegiate baseball after he graduates.

Spargalo appreciates the opportunity and enjoys the coaching experience of helping young ball players reach their goals as a player as well as a student.