Carl Lundgren - Coaching Career

Coaching Career

In March 1912, Lundgren was hired to assist Boileryard Clarke in coaching the pitchers at Princeton University in 1912. After a short stint with Princeton, Lundgren returned to the field as a player with Hartford in June 1912. In January 1913, the University of Iowa expressed interest in hiring Lundgren as its baseball coach, but it appears that the deal fell through after the Iowa Board of Athletics was asked to meet his salary demands. In February 1913, he was also interviewed, but not hired, for the position of manager of a baseball team in Keokuk, Iowa.

In August 1913, he was hired by the University of Michigan to succeed Branch Rickey as the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines baseball team. He was the baseball coach at Michigan from 1914 through 1920, compiling a record of 93–43–6. Lundgren developed several Major League players at Michigan, including George Sisler, who became one of baseball's greatest players. He was also an assistant football coach at Michigan under the legendary football coach, Fielding H. Yost. In his final three years at Michigan (1918–1920), Lundgren's baseball teams won consecutive Big Ten Conference championships with records of 9–1, 9–0 and 9–1 in conference play. While coaching at Michigan, Lundgren worked in the off-season as a traveling salesman.

In June 1920, Lundgren left Michigan to become the baseball coach at his alma mater, the University of Illinois. He was Illinois' baseball coach for 14 years until his death in 1934. His Illini teams won Big Ten championships in 5 of Lundgren's 14 years as coach and tied for another. Lundgren also served as the assistant athletic director at Illinois under George Huff.

Lundgren's Michigan and Illinois baseball teams won eight Big Ten Conference baseball championships. Only three coaches have won more Big Ten baseball championships—George Huff of Illinois, Dick Siebert of Minnesota, and John Anderson of Minnesota.