Karl Kuhn

Kuhn is in his second season under Head Coach Marc MacMillan where he serves as the program’s pitching coach and assists with recruiting. During September, Kuhn was elevated to the role of Associate Head Coach.

Kuhn recently was the head coach at fellow Big South member Radford for the past three seasons. He led the Highlanders to their best start since 2014 during his first year at the helm, in 2020, while raising the team’s batting average 50 points and lowering the team’s earned run average by nearly a full run. The two-top hitters in the league donned the Radford jersey, including the league’s leader in batting average, Colby Higgerson (.431) as well as J.D. Mundy (.385), who also paced the conference in home runs, RBI, total bases and slugging percentage. The pair was joined by pitcher Austin Gerber, who owned a career-best 1.98 ERA, on the all-state squad.

“I am very honored to join the baseball staff at Charleston Southern University,” Kuhn said. “I would like to thank Dr. Dondi Costin, Jeff Barber and Marc MacMillan for this opportunity. Jeff and Marc have both spent significant time at Power 5 institutions, and after so many great years at the University of Virginia, it is refreshing to reunite with leaders that have done it at the highest level. I am excited to assist in bringing another Big South baseball championship to Charleston Southern.”

Prior to joining the Highlanders, Kuhn was in charge of the pitching staff at ACC member Virginia for 16 seasons, beginning in 2004. His hurlers led the Cavaliers to 671 wins, an average of over 41 victories per year, and the unit was ranked among the Top 20 teams nationally in ERA during nine of his final-15 seasons, including the top spot in 2011 and No. 2 listing in 2014. The lowest ERA in the school’s last-40 years came during that 2014 campaign. Overall, the pitchers combined for a top-three national ERA ranking in four other seasons (2005, 2006, 2007, 2009) in addition to a No. 2 national ranking in 2018 with 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings.

He was a member of the Virginia program which advanced to its first College World Series in 2009 before returning to Omaha and claiming the 2015 national championship, the first in school history. He was selected as the 2014 Collegiate Baseball National Pitching Coach of the Year. The Cavaliers won 437 games during his final-10 years, reaching the College World Series four times (2009, 2011, 2014, 2015), winning five NCAA Regional titles, one ACC Tournament crown and one ACC Coastal Division championship during his tenure in Charlottesville. UVA won at least 50 games four times during the 2010s decade, climbing to as high as No. 1 in the national polls each of those years.

In 2010, he was bestowed the Collegiate Baseball Tom House Teaching Professional of the Year Award, recognizing excellence in teaching pitchers and acknowledging years of continued education and study of the latest pitching techniques as identified by scientific fact and biomechanical research. His Cavaliers pitchers produced 96 shutouts, including a conference-record 16 in 2011, and accumulated a league-best 29 ACC Pitcher of the Week honors.

He oversaw 42 Major League Baseball Draft selections, including 25 in the Top-10 rounds, with four players being first-round choices: Danny Hultzen (2^nd overall in 2011, Seattle Mariners); Nick Howard (19^th overall in 2014, Cincinnati Reds); Nathan Kirby (40^th overall in 2015, Milwaukee Brewers) and Daniel Lynch (34^th overall in 2018, Kansas City Royals).

Six of his players have reached the major league level, including Michael Schwimer (Philadelphia Phillies), Mike Ballard (Baltimore Orioles) both joining the big-league clubs in 2011. Sean Doolittle (Oakland Athletics) made his MLB debut in 2012 and was named an American League All-Star during the 2014 and 2018 campaigns. In 2014, Kyle Crockett (Cleveland Indians) advanced through the farm system in less than a year to reach the pinnacle, becoming the first 2013 draft class selection to reach the big leagues. Tyler Wilson (Baltimore) joined the others with his debut in 2015 and Bennett Sousa (Chicago White Sox) this past April 2022.

He coached 15 All-Americans and 28 All-ACC honorees during his time at Virginia, including three-time first-team All-America Hultzen. The hurler was UVA’s first ACC Freshman of the Year (2009) and then was the program’s first two-time ACC Pitcher of the Year (2010, 2011). Doolittle (2005-06), Jacob Thompson (2007) and Branden Kline (2011) all garnered All-American status and went on to play for the U.S. Collegiate National Team.

Kuhn arrived at Virginia, as the first assistant hired by current head coach Brian O’Connor, after a seven-year stint as the associate head coach and pitching coach at Little Rock from 1997-2003. He oversaw the Trojans’ pitching staff, while also serving as the squad’s recruiting coordinator. He signed five-consecutive nationally ranked classes by Collegiate Baseball.

He also previously spent three years at Charleston Southern, leading the BUCS to their first conference title and NCAA Regional appearance in 1996, playing in the Atlantic Regional in Clemson, South Carolina. He also worked at Valencia Community College (Orlando, Florida) and at Buchholz High School (Gainesville, Florida).

His collegiate playing career began at Valencia from 1987-89 before he transferred to Florida for the 1990 season. He graduated from UF in 1992 with a degree in exercise and sports science.

He is married to the former Katrina Gosdin and the couple has two sons, Kason and Kruse.