Northland College Men's Baseball

Cal Fougner enters his first year as Head Coach of the baseball team for the 2024 season. Before coming to Northland Fougner was the lead assistant coach at Valley City State University. The pitching staff in 2021 broke the university's strikeout record and was 21st in NAIA for opponent batting average. That same season the batter broke the program's single-season home run record. While there he coached many award-winning athletes with 17 North Star Athletic Association All-Conference award winners, six NSAA Player of the Week, one NAIA All-American/NSAA Conference Player of the Year, and 17 NAIA Scholar-Athletes. Two athletes signed professional contracted while under Fougner. Prior to VCSU, Fougner was the head baseball coach at Denfeld High School in Duluth, Minnesota, for seven years. Through a program overhaul, Fougner's teams found consistent success, culminating with a Minnesota Section 7AAA championship in 2019—advancing to the state tournament for the school's first appearance since 1954. He was named the 2019 Section 7AAA Coach of the Year. Earlier in his career, Fougner was the assistant baseball coach at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College for the 2011–2012 season and was a student-assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin-Superior for 2009–2010. He also founded two amateur baseball teams, the Moorhead Expos (Moorhead, Minn.) and the Twin Ports North Stars (Duluth, Minn.).  While attending UW-Superior Fougner was a part of the baseball team as a pitcher, catcher, and outfielder.  He graduated from UW-Superior in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in coaching.   Fougner and his wife, Becky, reside in Ashland, Wisconsin, with their two dogs, Jake and Niko.

Shane Buckley enters his second season as Head Coach of the Men's Hockey Team for the 2024-25 season. Before coming back to Northland, Buckley was the head coach for West Virginia University's American College Hockey Association D1 Program. In the four seasons, he helped the Mountaineers improve their record year after year. During the 2022-23 season, the program had its first winning season in nearly a decade. Buckley led the program to three straight College Hockey Mid-America playoff appearances.  Before jumping to the collegiate level Buckley spent five seasons coaching high school hockey at  Ashland High School and Chequamegon/Phillips (Team SEaL). Buckley was an athlete at Northland College competing in hockey and baseball. He earned multiple Academic All-Conference awards in both the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference and the National Collegiate Hockey Association during his four years. He graduated from Northland in 2013 with degrees in elementary education and broad-field social studies education.

 Nick Rackley enters his first season as the lead assistant coach for the 23-24 season. A native of Eureka, Montana, Rackley played first base for the University of Montana Missoula club team while receiving his degree in computer aided design. The year following his graduation, he took over as the head coach of the UM club team. Over his five years leading the program, Rackley increased the roster size by 200%. For the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Rackley served as the head coach of the Bitterroot Red Sox Legion team in Hamilton, MT, where he won the district championship in his first year with the team.  Nick will lead infield defense and assist with hitting and pitching. Nick will also serve as the recruiting coordinator.