Colin Kaline was announced as the head coach for the Oakland Baseball program on June 19, 2019. He was named co-head coach for the Golden Grizzlies in July of 2016 after spending three seasons as the assistant coach at Florida Southern.
During his first season in 2017, Kaline helped guide Oakland to a 11-19 record in Horizon League play during the regular season. The Golden Grizzlies went on to make history by winning its first-ever Horizon League Tournament games posting a 2-2 record marking the second time in the Division I era Oakland has won multiple conference tournament games since 2000 as members of the Summit League.
During his tenure over the past three seasons, 13 student-athletes have earned Horizon League All-Academic Team honors along with two All-Horizon League First Team, four Second Team and four All-Freshman Team selections. Additionally,Â
Zach Sterry (2017) andÂ
Jake Lee (2018) were selected in the MLB Draft by the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels respectively.
During his time at Florida Southern, Kaline coached the hitters and infielders, helping the team reach as high as No. 7 in the country in 2016 while making a Regional Final appearance in 2014. He has coached eight all-conference and all-region players, including two All-Americans and one Gold Glove recipient. Each of the last two seasons at FSC the team has finished with over a .300 batting average and scored over eight runs per game.
Kaline was drafted in the 26th round by the Detroit Tigers in 2011 out of Florida Southern where he spent two years in the organization before joining the coaching staff for the Gulf Coast League Tigers. At FSC, he led the team in walks his last three seasons, batting .287 his senior year. The Tigers also drafted him in the 25th round out of Birmingham Groves High School, where as a senior, he batted .535 with just three strikeouts in 187 at-bats.
He is the grandson of Major League Baseball and Detroit Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline.
