Oakland University Athletics

Justin Karn was promoted to Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator of the Oakland Baseball Team on Oct. 7, 2019 after spending two years as a volunteer assistant coach when he developed individualized plans for the pitching staff and catchers.

Karn served as Acting Head Coach for the first 12 games of the 2020 campaign before the rest of the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
 
Under Karn’s direction, the 2019 Oakland pitching staff saw Beau Keathley earn All-Horizon League First Team honors after leading the team and ranking fourth in the league in strikeouts (83), while being selected as one of Collegiate Baseball's National Players of the Week and Nike® Horizon League Pitcher of the Week twice. Andrew Hoffmann also ranked third on the team in strikeouts (46) earning All-Freshmen Team honors. In 2018, Jake Lee was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the ninth round (pick 271) of the Major League Baseball (MLB) draft. Lee earned All-Horizon League Second Team honors after leading the league in strikeouts (112) and breaking the single-season school strikeout record.
 
Prior to joining Oakland, Karn was the pitching coach at Ava Maria for two years (2015-17) helping the school set program highs in total strikeouts. His 2015 and 2016 recruiting classes ranked No. 2 and No. 4 respectively in the nation by Perfect Game. Under his direction, Justin Bureau set the school’s single season saves record followed by Austin Munn who ranked second in career strikeouts and Christian Dufresne who posted the third best strikeout total in program history.
 
Karn also spent three seasons as a head coach for the Perfect Game Jupiter World Championships of the Southwest Florida Baseball Organization where he led the team to the 2017 Wilson Premier Championships and coached nine players who were MLB draft picks.
 
Karn also served as the pitching coach at St. Thomas Aquinas College from 2012-14 where he helped the team win back-to-back conference championships for the first time in program history in 2013 and 2014 and was a Division II College World Series participant in 2014. His 2014 recruiting class featured three future All-Americans including two MLB draft picks and five total professional players.
 
Prior to his time at St. Thomas, Karn as a Head Coach and Associate Head Coach at State University of New York at Ulster County (SUNY) from 2009-12. He helped the team lead the league in ERA in 2011 and 2012. He also helped Cody Markle rank first nationally in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II in ERA and Matt Ditus earn conference Defensive Player of the Year.
 
Karn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Iona College where he was a four-year baseball starter and three-year captain while earning All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Academic honors.
 
Karn, a native of Poughkeepsie, NY, and his wife Lauren, who is the head coach for the Oakland softball team, reside in Auburn Hills, Mich.