Linder Resigns as Kent State’s Head Softball Coach
8/29/2015 11:44:00 AM | Softball
KENT, Ohio- Karen Linder, who recently completed her 19th season as Kent State's head softball coach, has announced her resignation. Assistant Coach Eric Oakley has been named interim head coach for the 2015-16 season.
Linder has built a national reputation for the Golden Flash program. In her last 10 seasons, Linder has led the Golden Flashes to seven Mid-American Conference Division titles with a combined 146-58 mark in conference play. During that time, Kent State won four MAC regular season titles (2007,2008, 2010, 2015) and two MAC Tournament championships (2006, 2008), leading to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances.
Linder has coached 30 seasons of fastpitch softball, boasting an 801-634-2 career record. During that span, she coached 11 Academic All-Americans, six All-Americans, two NCAA postgraduate scholarship winners and won 12 conference titles. In 19 years at Kent State, Linder earned four MAC Coach of the Year honors (2004, 2008, 2010, 2015), posted a 548-434-1 overall record, a 269-153 MAC mark and eight 30-win seasons. The Flashes have earned MAC Tournament appearances in 12 straight years under Linder, the longest current streak of any MAC program.
After becoming the winningest coach in Kent State history during the 2007 season, Linder's 2008 team reached a whole new set of program milestones. The 2008 squad's 46 wins were the most by a MAC team since league play began in 1983 and the most in school history. At 20-2, the Flashes posted their best conference winning percentage (.909) in program history and went on to become the first MAC team since 2002 to win both a regular season and tournament title in the same year. Linder earned career win number 600 and win number 350 at Kent State that season. She hit the 350-win plateau at the NCAA Tournament, when the Golden Flashes eliminated Wright State and Notre Dame in the same day. In 2008, Linder also won her second MAC Coach of the Year honor.
Notable numbers during Linder's tenure at Kent State include one All-American, 18 All-Mideast Region selections, 25 Academic All-District IV honorees, 62 Academic All-MAC picks, 50 All-MAC players, 19 MAC All-Tournament Team members, five MAC Pitchers of the Year, two MAC Tournament MVPs and one MAC Player of the Year. The Flashes have won nine MAC East crowns since the conference was split into divisions in 1998. Since then, KSU has also earned a pair of second place finishes in the East.
Continuing on the staff with Oakley is assistant coach Jessica Toocheck '08, one of the most accomplished players in the storied history of Kent State softball.
