Links
SIDHelp
2009 Baseball
 Karl Kling
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

 
Cardinal Scoreboard
Tuesday, Mar 9
Baseball
Concordia at Rain
Huntington College Out
Concordia at Rain
Huntington College Out