Concordia University St. Paul Athletics

• 7th season in 2026
• 106-136 overall record
• 71-103 in NSIC contests
• 2024 NSIC Tournament Semifinalist

Neil Lerner enters his seventh season as Golden Bear head baseball coach in the 2026 campaign after being elevated from the associate head coach role in June 2019.

During his first five years as the CSP baseball head coach, Lerner's Golden Bears increased or matched overall and NSIC win totals each season, culminating with the program's top season under Lerner in 2024 with a 29-22 overall, 19-19 NSIC record while making a run to the NSIC Tournament semifinals in Bismarck, North Dakota.

In his inaugural season as head coach, Lerner guided the Golden Bears to a 7-6 record and rode a three-game winning streak before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

After play resumed in the 2021 season, he collected his first series win as head coach against Purdue Northwest (Ind.) in non-conference action. In the following series against Minnesota Duluth, the Golden Bears gave Lerner his first NSIC series win after winning the opening doubleheader against the Bulldogs.

Lerner has coached a pair of All-NSIC First Team, five All-NSIC Second Team selections, a pair of NSIC Gold Glove defensive players while also coaching NSIC Newcomer of the Year Bennett McCollow, who was also a 2024 All-NSIC First Team and 2024 NSIC All-Tournament performer. Additionally, Nick Thimsen was Coach Lerner's first two-time All-NSIC selection, being named to the second team in 2021 before a first team selection in 2024.

Academic success has been a main emphasis under Lerner's coaching philosophy. Since taking over, the Golden Bears have had 101 NSIC Academic All-Conference selections, 15 CSC Academic All-District selections and Nick Thimsen becoming the program's third CSC Academic All-America selection.

Before his reign as head coach, Lerner spent 12 years with the Golden Bears as an assistant coach dating back to 2000 under former head coach Mark “Lunch” McKenzie. In 2003, he helped coach CSP to their first NSIC Championship. After a hiatus from the program, Lerner returned to the dugout in 2014, where he helped lead the Golden Bears to a pair of NSIC Tournament runner-up finishes in 2016 and 2018, along with 20-win league seasons in 2014 and 2016.

Along with his experience at the collegiate level with the Golden Bears, Lerner had an excellent reputation as a high school head coach in Minnesota. He posted a winning record as the head coach at Hopkins High School, leading the Royals for eight years (2006-13) and compiling a 120-81 (.597) record that included three Classic Lake Conference championships, a pair of Section 6AAA championships for two berths to the MSHSL Class AAA State Baseball Tournament.

A coach and professor, Lerner also has experience as an instructor and clinician, leading numerous private and group lessons as well as being a featured speaker at several high school coaches clinics.

Prior to his full-time appointment as associate head coach in 2018, Lerner was working full-time in the Hopkins School District as a junior high school social studies teacher and Dean of Students.

He earned his degree in social studies education and coaching at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota in 1998, where he was a two-time All-MIAC performer on the diamond. Lerner is the school's all-time leader in walks, second in stolen bases and third in runs scored. A senior captain, he earned All-America and All-Midwest Region honors for the Oles.

On top of his degree from St. Olaf, Lerner holds a master's degree in teaching and learning from St. Mary's University. He is also a Concordia alum, earning an education specialist advanced degree with a K-12 principal's license from CSP.

A native of New York, Lerner has been a Hopkins School District resident since moving to Minnesota during his youth. He still resides in the school district today with his wife, Kate. They have a daughter, Sonia and a son, Max.