Charleston Southern University Men's Baseball

Kuhn will be entering his second season at the helm of the Charleston Southern Baseball program beginning in 2025-26. He spent the two seasons on staff at CSU working as the pitching coach with his first year as an assistant and his second as the Associate Head Coach.   During his first spring at the helm, the Bucs finished the spring with 31 wins, their most in over a quarter century and became the second-winningest year in CSU history. The Buccaneers got out to a fast start on the season, jumping out to 8-1 for the first time in school history. They entered the Big South Championships as the #3 seed, their highest seeding since 2011 and finished as the Tournament Runner-Up. At the end of the tournament, Charleston Southern had four players earn All-Tournament honors. The team claimed national and conference awards throughout the season including First-Team All-Conference for relief pitcher Ryan DuSang, Second-Team All-Conference for relief pitcher Tyler Henshaw and designated hitter Kaden Smith as well as Honorable Mention All-Conference for infielder AJ Martin. Additional awards included Second-Team All-Region for Smith, the third-ever All-Region award for a player in CSU history, Big South Scholar-Athlete of teh Year for Aidan McAskie and Lucas Pringle earning a spot on the Buster Posey Award Midseason Watch List    At the end of the year, they had four players that ended the year with a batting average over .300 and eight of the nine players in the starting lineup with an on base percentage over .400. Charleston Southern was all over the national leaderboards, ranking among the NCAA’s best in multiple offensive statistics. The Bucs averaged 9.3 runs per game to rank 6th, an on base percentage of .426 for 12th, a batting average of .305 for 31st, 1.83 stolen bases per game for 56th and a slugging percentage of .483 for 59th. Defensively, they turned .87 double plays per game for the 23rd highest mark in the nation. The 2025 Buccaneers offense is seen as its most productive ever in the program's history. During the year, they broke the team single-season school records in home runs (68), RBIs (447), runs scored (491), walks (301), hit by pitches (110), slugging percentage (.483) and on base percentage (.426) with many getting eclipsed by a wide margin. The team’s RBIs and runs scored previous records were broken by over 100 apiece. In the single-game categories, almost every statistic has multiple team and individual outings that rank inside the school’s all-time top 15 now along with multiple individual single season records being littered with players from the 2025 season. During his three years in Charleston for this stint, he has seen one MLB Draft selection in Evan Truitt in 2024 to the Mariners in the 12th round. There have been eight Big South All-Conference selections with three of them as pitchers. Additionally, there have been six players during his time to go on to sign contracts in other professional leagues with the list including Kyle Lewis (2025 - Frontier League), Ryan DuSang (2025 - Frontier League), Nick Timpanelli (2025 - Frontier League), Sam Low (2024 - Frontier League), Dylan Matsuoka (2024 - Frontier League), Chandler Woolridge (2024 - India's Baseball United). Kuhn also spent time in the Big South as the head coach at Radford for the three seasons. He led the Highlanders to their best start since 2014 during his first year at the helm, in 2020, while raising the team’s batting average 50 points and lowering the team’s earned run average by nearly a full run. The two-top hitters in the league donned the Radford jersey, including the league’s leader in batting average, Colby Higgerson (.431) as well as J.D. Mundy (.385), who also paced the conference in home runs, RBI, total bases and slugging percentage. The pair was joined by pitcher Austin Gerber, who owned a career-best 1.98 ERA, on the all-state squad. “I am very honored to join the baseball staff at Charleston Southern University,” Kuhn said. “I would like to thank Dr. Dondi Costin, Jeff Barber and Marc MacMillan for this opportunity. Jeff and Marc have both spent significant time at Power 5 institutions, and after so many great years at the University of Virginia, it is refreshing to reunite with leaders that have done it at the highest level. I am excited to assist in bringing another Big South baseball championship to Charleston Southern.” Prior to joining the Highlanders, Kuhn was in charge of the pitching staff at ACC member Virginia for 16 seasons, beginning in 2004. His hurlers led the Cavaliers to 671 wins, an average of over 41 victories per year, and the unit was ranked among the Top 20 teams nationally in ERA during nine of his final-15 seasons, including the top spot in 2011 and No. 2 listing in 2014. The lowest ERA in the school’s last-40 years came during that 2014 campaign. Overall, the pitchers combined for a top-three national ERA ranking in four other seasons (2005, 2006, 2007, 2009) in addition to a No. 2 national ranking in 2018 with 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings. He was a member of the Virginia program which advanced to its first College World Series in 2009 before returning to Omaha and claiming the 2015 national championship, the first in school history. He was selected as the 2014 Collegiate Baseball National Pitching Coach of the Year. The Cavaliers won 437 games during his final-10 years, reaching the College World Series four times (2009, 2011, 2014, 2015), winning five NCAA Regional titles, one ACC Tournament crown and one ACC Coastal Division championship during his tenure in Charlottesville. UVA won at least 50 games four times during the 2010s decade, climbing to as high as No. 1 in the national polls each of those years. In 2010, he was bestowed the Collegiate Baseball Tom House Teaching Professional of the Year Award, recognizing excellence in teaching pitchers and acknowledging years of continued education and study of the latest pitching techniques as identified by scientific fact and biomechanical research. His Cavaliers pitchers produced 96 shutouts, including a conference-record 16 in 2011, and accumulated a league-best 29 ACC Pitcher of the Week honors. He oversaw 42 Major League Baseball Draft selections, including 25 in the Top-10 rounds, with four players being first-round choices: Danny Hultzen (2nd overall in 2011, Seattle Mariners); Nick Howard (19th overall in 2014, Cincinnati Reds); Nathan Kirby (40th overall in 2015, Milwaukee Brewers) and Daniel Lynch (34th overall in 2018, Kansas City Royals).  Six of his players have reached the major league level, including Michael Schwimer (Philadelphia Phillies), Mike Ballard (Baltimore Orioles) both joining the big-league clubs in 2011. Sean Doolittle (Oakland Athletics) made his MLB debut in 2012 and was named an American League All-Star during the 2014 and 2018 campaigns. In 2014, Kyle Crockett (Cleveland Indians) advanced through the farm system in less than a year to reach the pinnacle, becoming the first 2013 draft class selection to reach the big leagues. Tyler Wilson (Baltimore) joined the others with his debut in 2015 and Bennett Sousa (Chicago White Sox) this past April 2022. He coached 15 All-Americans and 28 All-ACC honorees during his time at Virginia, including three-time first-team All-America Hultzen. The hurler was UVA’s first ACC Freshman of the Year (2009) and then was the program’s first two-time ACC Pitcher of the Year (2010, 2011). Doolittle (2005-06), Jacob Thompson (2007) and Branden Kline (2011) all garnered All-American status and went on to play for the U.S. Collegiate National Team. Kuhn arrived at Virginia, as the first assistant hired by current head coach Brian O’Connor, after a seven-year stint as the associate head coach and pitching coach at Little Rock from 1997-2003. He oversaw the Trojans’ pitching staff, while also serving as the squad’s recruiting coordinator. He signed five-consecutive nationally ranked classes by Collegiate Baseball. He also previously spent three years at Charleston Southern, leading the Bucs to their first conference title and NCAA Regional appearance in 1996, playing in the Atlantic Regional in Clemson, South Carolina. He also worked at Valencia Community College (Orlando, Florida) and at Buchholz High School (Gainesville, Florida). His collegiate playing career began at Valencia from 1987-89 before he transferred to Florida for the 1990 season. He graduated from UF in 1992 with a degree in exercise and sports science. He is married to the former Katrina Gosdin and the couple has two sons, Kason and Kruse. More About Kuhn… “Karl Kuhn is an incredible person who is driven by his family values. He fully and passionately lives by those values each and every day. He is a humble man with a strong spirit and a giving heart. He is passionate about creating opportunities for others and does so in both his personal and professional endeavors. I am honored to consider him a close colleague and dear friend. I know that he will continue to make a profound impact both on and off the field!” - Dr. Brian Hemphill, President, Old Dominion University  “Karl Kuhn is an outstanding addition to the Charleston Southern University and the baseball program. He brings a great deal of experience in the areas of recruiting and pitching. He has a passion for coaching, a great knowledge of pitching and he will bring a tremendous amount of enthusiasm to the diamond. Karl also has great ability as a recruiter and evaluator of talent, which will be an asset for the program. I had the pleasure of working alongside Coach Kuhn for 16 years. During his time as a pitching coach, Karl has proven the ability to develop pitchers to win in college baseball. He will get the most out of his pitching staff in every game they play. He is a tireless worker who will help Charleston Southern in every facet of the program.” – Brian O’Connor, Head Coach, University of Virginia “Karl is hands down the best coach, evaluator, recruiter of talent in the country. Several trips to Omaha, National pitching coach of the year and a National Championship. He has developed and mentored countless professional and Major League pitchers. More importantly, Karl develops his players into men. He is the absolute best at getting the most out of his players because they know how much he cares for them. Charleston Southern hired a phenomenal person, husband, father and coach!!” – Mark Calvi, Head Coach, University of South Alabama “Ks taught me what I know about pitching. The many lessons of preparation, diligence, attention to detail and how to compete have stuck with me both on and off the field and continue to resonate with me to this day.” - Danny Hultzen, LHP University of Virginia & 2nd Overall Pick in the 2011 MLB Draft “Coach Ks hard coaching and tough love made me into the man I am today. Without his consistent drive for perfection and loyalty, I truly believe I would have never pitched in the major leagues. Ks never gave up on me and I will forever be grateful for that.” - Bennett Sousa, LHP University of Virginia, 2015 National Champion & 10th round selection of the Chicago White Sox “While at UVA for five years, Scott was under the daily guidance of Coach Kuhn. As a result, my son’s confidence, maturity and overall ability to address and resolve challenges grew exponentially. Due in large part to Coach Kuhn, Scott was able to smoothly transition from college and professional baseball into a successful career. The life experiences learned from Coach Kuhn cannot be understated.” - Steve Silverstein, Parent of LHP Scott Silverstein, & 12th Rd Draft pick of the Toronto Blue Jays  

Brett Young joined Charleston Southern in the summer of 2024 as an assistant coach and will have the 2026 season mark his second year with the Buccaneers. He arrived at the university after spending the three years at Barry University in Florida. Young spent his first year serving as the Bucs' third base coach and working to make the Buccaneers' offense its best in school history. During the spring, they broke the team single-season school records in home runs (68), RBIs (447), runs scored (491), walks (301), hit by pitches (110), slugging percentage (.483) and on base percentage (.426) with many getting eclipsed by a wide margin. The team’s RBIs and runs scored previous records were broken by over 100 apiece. In the single-game categories, almost every statistic has multiple team and individual outings that rank inside the school’s all-time top 15 now along with multiple individual single season records being littered with players from the 2025 season.    Young played a key role in many of the squad’s individual successes for national and league awards. Kaden Smith was named Second-Team All-Conference and Second-Team All-Region, to become the third Buccaneer to earn All-Region distinction. During the season he tied the NCAA Division I record for doubles in a single game with five and broke the school single season records in RBIs, sacrifice flies, slugging percentage and total bases. He ended the year as the NCAA leader in RBIs per game with 1.58. Additionally, AJ Martin earned Honorable Mention All-Conference and Aidan McAskie was named the Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year for his exemplary performance in the classroom  and on the diamond. He also coached the Bucs’ starting catcher, Lucas Pringle, who became the first CSU player to ever be named to the Buster Posey Award Midseason Watch List.   At the end of the year, they had four players that ended the year with a batting average over .300 and eight of the nine players in the starting lineup with an on base percentage over .400. Charleston Southern was all over the national leaderboards, ranking among the NCAA’s best in multiple offensive statistics. The Bucs averaged 9.3 runs per game to rank 6th, an on base percentage of .426 for 12th, a batting average of .305 for 31st, 1.83 stolen bases per game for 56th and a slugging percentage of .483 for 59th. Defensively, they turned .87 double plays per game for the 23rd highest mark in the nation. In total, they finished the spring with 31 wins, their most in over a quarter century and became the second-winningest year in CSU history. The Buccaneers got out to a fast start on the season, jumping out to 8-1 for the first time in school history. They entered the Big South Championships as the #3 seed, their highest seeding since 2011 and finished as the Tournament Runner-Up. At the end of the tournament, Charleston Southern had four players earn All-Tournament honors. During his time at Barry, he has been part of over 80 total victories with 28 of them coming this past spring when he served as the head coach. During his second year as an assistant coach, the 2023 season, they posted a 35-19 record on the year and advanced to the Super Regional round for the first time in program history. The NCAA tournament appearance marked the fourth time they had done so in school history as they won the South Region 2 title to secure their spot in the event. Additionally, Young served as the recruiting coordinator during each of his two seasons when he was an assistant coach for Barry. One of the top accomplishments during his time there was securing the top-rated class in the NCAA Division II according to Perfect Game during each of his seasons with the Buccaneers, claiming those honors for his groups in 2022, 2023 and 2024.   Prior to Barry, he coached at Rowan where he helped lead the Profs to a 29-6 record, regular season and tournament championships in the New Jersey Athletic Conference. Additionally, they won the first regional title for Rowan since 2005 and led them to a berth in the NCAA Division III World Series.   Prior to Rowan, he served as the head coach at Paul VI High School for five seasons, from 2015 to 2020, guiding a squad that was ranked in the Top-5 in South Jersey and Top-20 in the state. He began his coaching career in 2006 at his alma mater, Haddon Township High School, where he had two stints for a total of three years (2006-08, 2010). During his time at both schools, he saw 28 of his players move on to play collegiate baseball and had one player ­– Will Gambino of Paul VI – chosen in the MLB Draft.   He started his collegiate career coaching as an assistant coach at Oklahoma Panhandle State University in 2012 and moved to Widener University after that for a season.   Young, a first baseman and outfielder, played at James Madison University, Gloucester County College (RCSJ-Gloucester) and the University of Delaware. He was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 2002 before an injury cut short his professional playing career.   In 2017, he was inducted into the Haddon Township Athletic Hall of Fame for his playing career in both basketball and baseball.   Young earned his bachelor's degree in health and physical education from Oklahoma Panhandle in 2012 and a master's in secondary education from the University of Phoenix in 2020.   Young and his wife Amanda have a young son named Brock.

Jake Manyin was appointed as the graduate assistant for CSU Baseball in August of 2024. While with the Buccaneers, he will be assuming the role of Director of Player Development. Most recently, he served as an assistant coach for the Lakeshore Chinooks of the Northwoods League during the summer of 2024. Prior to that, he got his start in the collegiate industry by working at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, (UMBC) where he served as the Director of Player Personnel. While there, he helped the squad to a second-place finish in the America East. In the year prior, he went to work for the Charlotte Knight, the AAA affilliate of the Chicago White Sox where he did work in the front office and clubhouse. He also has experience as a manager in the Empire League where he was in charge of the Saranac Lake Surge. During his first season there, he led them to a league championship while he was just 21 years old. He rejoined the team for the 2022 season as their manager and added the role of Executive Director of the Empire League. Following the end of that season, he joined the Empire State Greys of the Frontier League to be their bench coach. Manyin attended the University of South Carolina for his undergraduate degree.

Charleston Southern

https://www.csusports.com/sports/baseball/roster/staff/jake-manyin/241