After spending most of the 2024 season looking for a new face, College of DuPage Athletics announced Karsten Leigvold as the head coach of COD baseball on June 26.
“I am very excited,” Leigvold said. “I am blessed to have this opportunity.”
Leigvold comes to Glen Ellyn from Harrison, Ark., after spending six seasons with the North Arkansas College baseball program. Following five seasons as an assistant coach for the Pioneers, he served as the interim head coach during the 2024 season. Leigvold led North Arkansas to the South Central Tourney semifinals and finished last season with a 35-18 record.
After learning about the position from a post on COD Director of Athletics and Recreational Programs Ryan Kaiser’s X (formerly Twitter) account, Leigvold applied for the job.
“College baseball is a lot of word of mouth,” Leigvold said. “[Kaiser] and a friend of mine, a coach in Kansas, I believe worked together in a past life. I called my friend and [asked him] to put in a good word for me.”
With relatives in the area, Leigvold knew the COD baseball program would be a good fit for him and his family. He spent most of his life playing baseball and branched out to other sports in his youth before suffering an injury near the end of his high school career.
“It changed how I approached everything”, he said. “I had to take a step back. I wasn’t necessarily the player I thought I was, so I took some opportunities through my first couple of years fighting through some injuries.”
After high school, Leigvold knew he wanted to follow his passion for sports in a different direction: spreading the wisdom he had learned to new athletes. He started his bachelor’s degree in K-12 physical education at Evangel University in Springfield, Mo.
After earning his degree, he followed one of his assistant coaches at Evangel University to North Arkansas College, where he started coaching junior collegiate baseball. After his mentor took a job elsewhere, Leigvold applied for the Pioneers’ head coaching position but didn’t get the job. He stayed on as an assistant coach for three years longer and learned more before being named the interim head coach for the 2024 season.
“I was still young, and I didn’t have the contacts,” he said. “It wasn’t the right fit at the time. Truthfully it was a blessing [I wasn’t named head coach], because the guy that they brought in came from a Division II school in Arkansas, and I learned so much. He was a great resource, and he’s still one of my best friends. I got to learn a ton from him and figure out how to do this at a high level.”
After his first year as an interim head coach with North Arkansas College, Leigvold is ready to bring his experience, connections and a fresh perspective to Chaparral baseball.
“There’s a ton of buzz about College of DuPage baseball,” he said. “Everyone is really excited to see what’s going on over here. I just want to keep building on that. I bring a lot of energy. I tell my guys all the time that I’m in this because this is what I love to do, and I expect them to be the same way. I’m going to bleed this stuff.”
Leigvold credited assistant coach Pat Leahy and the other members of the 2024 coaching staff for helping create the competitive environment the Chaparrals ended their season with.
“Baseball is baseball at the end of the day, and what those guys did last year was incredible and remarkable,” he said. “A ton of credit to [Leahy] and everyone that was on staff here who did all of the stuff that they did. They finished fourth, and I couldn’t even get past my district. I really want to ride that wave of momentum that they’ve created.”
With a fresh start in the Midwest, Leigvold offers connections from baseball programs across the country. He teased that players from North Arkansas College are following him to College of DuPage, and he hopes to showcase a wide variety of talent that Region 4 might not be familiar with.
“I am bringing eight of my guys; they’re making the trip up here with us,” Leigvold said. “We’ll see some new faces. I’ve got some kids from Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri, so there will be a little bit more guys from all over instead of just the locals. It’s kind of how we had to live down at [North Arkansas]. We cast a wide net, and what stuck, stuck.”
Leigvold also stated that he is looking to continue the competitive spirit but keep the team down to earth and well-connected with each other.
“Us against the world. We’re a big family, and that’s how I run things,” he said. “It’s just how I operate. I’ve been blessed to have those eight guys that want to follow and keep playing for me, and keep doing what we’re doing.”
When the 2025 season rolls around, Leigvold expects to have both returners and new recruits ready to compete. His sights are set on bringing the Chaps back to nationals, and even further than last season.
“I see us competing on a day-in, day-out basis, playing the game the right way,” he said. “I don’t want to say I’m old-school, but I want us to be known as a group that works and works hard. When we send guys out of here, four-year coaches [will] know what they’re getting.
Leigvold is looking to bring a tough new team next season with plenty of wins.
“If we have that mindset here,” he said. “I see that only carrying us back to the regional, to the district and back to New York.”
Besides Leigvold, no other members of the coaching staff have been named or confirmed for next season. The Courier tried to reach out to Kaiser for a comment, but he didn’t respond. Without announcing his departure from the COD baseball program, former interim head coach Matt Gould took an assistant coaching job with Benedictine University baseball. He declined to make a public comment to the Courier.
