Coaching Hires that Click: Lauren Karn at Maryland

There are many factors that go into coaching hires at all levels of athletics. Administrators vary in terms of what qualities they seek in their ideal candidate and it can range from experience, to presentation, to personality and to sport knowledge.

Ultimately, administrators choose who they believe to be the best fit and can deliver value to the athletic department and student-athletes.

On September 25, Extra Inning Softball took a closer look at the 31 head coaching hires made in advance of the 2024 season at the Division I level.

This is the fourth of a five-part series highlighting impactful coaching hires at the Division I level.

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School: University of Maryland

Coach Hired: Lauren Karn

Coaching Experience: Head coach Oakland, assistant coach Pittsburgh, assistant coach Saint Joseph’s, assistant coach Marist, assistant coach Delaware

Playing Career: Saint Joseph’s

Coaching Staff: Katey Hendershott

2023 Record: 38-19 overall, 11-11 Big Ten (Tied Seventh)

What’s Back for the Terps: There will be plenty of new faces in College Park this year as Karn welcomes 10 new Terrapins into the fold, but she also has a mix of offensive and defensive returnees to build her first team around. Jaeda McFarland earned Big Ten All-Defensive honors and also posted a .354 batting average, three home runs and 31 RBIs to lead the returnees on offense. Sammi Woods started all 57 games at shortstop and hit .255 on the year, while Madison Runyan started 20 games and hit .320. Megan Mikami appeared in 56 games last season and started 54 and finished the year with a .244 batting average, while Michaela Jones started all 57 games at third and finished the year with a .292 batting average and 15 runs batted in. Second Team All-Big Ten honoree Courtney Wyche leads the Terps in the circle after posting a 19-9 overall record and a 3.28 ERA. Keira Bucher also returns in the circle for Maryland after leading the nation in saves with 12.

What’s To Like About the Hire: Maryland fans need to take a close look at what Karn accomplished at Oakland in evaluating this hire. She inherited a program that had only posted 20, or more, wins in a season nine times in 19 years prior to her arrival. Karn led the Golden Grizzlies to at least 20 wins in four of her five full seasons. She became the first coach in Oakland history to win the conference regular season title in back-to-back years and also led the Golden Grizzlies to the NCAA Tournament for just the fourth time in school history. She also departed as the winningest coach in school history and is the only coach to reach 100 wins. Add in her time at Pittsburgh and it’s easy to see the value of this hire. She helped guide the Panthers to their first NCAA Tournament bid in program history in 2015 and the staff was named the 2015 NFCA Mid-Atlantic Region Coaching Staff of the Year after leading the Panthers to a school-record 37 wins. Karn knows how to build a program, but more importantly a winning program.

Final Analysis: It’s been a slow ascent for Maryland in the Big Ten standings. Since the Terps joined the conference in 2015 they have only finished with a .500 or better record twice. Fortunately for Karn those occurred in each of the last two seasons as she will look to build off that success. Maryland won 38 games last season, which marked its highest win total since 2011, and advanced to postseason play with an appearance in the NISC. The Terps knocked off Oregon, BYU, North Dakota State and Oklahoma State last season so there is reason for optimism. Karn will seek to capitalize on that positive momentum, while also establishing her culture and how she wants to build her program. Although there would appear to be an opportunity for Maryland to move up in the Big Ten standings this year, this is a long-term hire centered around making the Terps a consistent winner. Given her history of program building, and her extensive coaching background, Karn is the right fit at Maryland to deliver that promise.

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