Concordia's all-time winningest coach on the baseball diamond, Mark “Lunch” McKenzie also served the University as Director of Athletics for his final three years while in a dual coaching/administrator role. He has remained involved with the baseball program as an assistant coach following his retirement as head coach and AD.
He posted a 456-361-1 career overall record and added a 281-234 record during conference play, coaching CSP’s first 20 years of NCAA Division II baseball, including all 20 in the Northern Sun (NSIC).
He was a two-time NSIC Tournament Champion, capturing the honors in 2003 and 2008, with the 2008 team earning the program’s first-ever NCAA Central Region Tournament appearance, which was also the first men’s team to qualify for an NCAA regional at the DII level.
Lunch guided his teams to the NSIC Tournament championship game five times in all, adding runner-up finishes in 2006, 2016, and 2018, and his 2009 squad’s 35 victories remains a single-season program record today. By 2009, McKenzie and the Golden Bears had tied or set the school’s single-season wins record four times in five years (29, 29, 30, 35).
A coach with a hitting instructor background, the Golden Bears had a .310 average, .392 on-base percentage, and .451 slugging percentage, amassing 7,758 hits (24,997 at-bats) and 613 home runs in his 20 seasons at the helm.
But of the four players the program had selected in the MLB Draft under McKenzie’s tenure, three were drafted as pitchers (Jake Schmidt, Gus Varland, Louie Varland), with the other being the NCAA DII batting champion (Bryan Lippincott).
As Director of Athletics, the University opened the $1.5 million multi-purpose Athletic Performance Center, expanded locker room space and added full-time staff members to the athletic training and sports information teams.
On the field of play, McKenzie presided over a pair of NCAA Division II National Championships when the volleyball program won their eighth and ninth championships in 2016 and 2017.
In the classroom, CSP’s student-athletes achieved a 90-percent academic success rate two years in a row and captured the 2017-18 NSIC Sportsmanship Award.
McKenzie has three adult children, Paul, Marcus, and Kelly. All earned degrees from Concordia St. Paul, and all three were college athletes with two competing at CSP as athletes and the other serving as a coach. McKenzie is a proud grandfather with five grandchildren: Linnie, Maddie, Reagan, Peyton, and Anna.
Career Awards
- 2005 NSIC Baseball Coach of the Year
- 2003 Minnesota Baseball College Coach of the Year
- Four CSP players selected in MLB Draft & two MLB free agent contracts
- 19 CSP players signed professionally
- 2021 Minnetonka High School Hall of Fame inductee
- 2019 CSP Honorary Doctorate of Letters
CSP Records
- 1st - NCAA Tournament appearance for a men’s program in CSP’s Division II era (2008)
- 1st - NSIC men’s team championship in CSP’s Division II era (2003)
- 1st - career victories (456)
- 1st - season victories (35, 2009)
Career & Season Stats
- 456-361-1 overall career record, 281-234 NSIC career record
- 2008 NSIC Tournament Champions
- 2003 NSIC Tournament Champions
- Three-time NSIC Tournament runner-up (2006, 2016, 2018)
- 12 overall winning seasons & 12 NSIC winning seasons
- Coached 67 All-NSIC baseball players
- Coached 152 NSIC All-Academic student-athletes
