Marc Baumbach has been named Lakeland University's new head men's soccer coach, Lakeland Director of Athletics
April Arvan has announced.
Baumbach comes to Lakeland with substantial experience as a collegiate coach, including six years as a head coach. He replaces Adam Galla, who coached the team the last four years and resigned in July to take the coaching job at Westminster (Mo.) College.
"We are thrilled to welcome Coach Marc Baumbach to Lakeland University and our men's soccer program," said Arvan. "Coach brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, and he is the perfect fit not only for our soccer program, but for the athletic department and university as a whole."
Baumbach joins the Muskies after serving last year an assistant coach at Colby (Maine) College, an NCAA Division III school in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Prior to that, he was the interim coach at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay for one year and also was previously the head men's coach at Buena Vista (Iowa) University for five years.
"I want to thank Dr. Arvan and President (Dan) Eck for giving me the opportunity," said Baumbach. "I also want to thank everyone on the search committee as they provided me with such great insight about what it is like to work at Lakeland. Everyone I met on my interview at Lakeland was welcoming and open, which told the story of Lakeland University and I wanted to be a part of that environment. I am looking forward to getting started and putting in the work to have a successful career with the Lakeland men's soccer program."
Baumbach came on as an assistant coach at UW-Green Bay in June 2014 and took over as interim head coach of the NCAA Division I program two months later. He coached the Phoenix to a 6-9-3 record and coached two all-Horizon League performers as well as three conference player of the week award winners.
Baumbach also was the head coach at Buena Vista from 2009-14, coaching the team for five seasons. He won 23 games over five years, the second-most wins in the history of the Division III member of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. He also was an assistant coach with the Beavers' women's soccer team in the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
Baumbach got his start coaching collegiately at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He assisted with the men's and women's soccer programs from 2001-07, and the Luther men's program posted an 82-57-7 record over that time and won two IIAC championships.
Baumbach also has coaching experience at the high school and club levels, including more than 10 years of experience as a club coach. Along with coaching at Lakeland, he will continue as the director of coaching for FC Wisconsin North in Green Bay, where he came on board earlier in 2016.
Baumbach is a native of Minnesota and a graduate of Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minn., where he played for three years at the Division III level from 1993-95.
