Eric Karius was announced as the head men's and women's golf coach in the summer of 2019. Karius came to Coe after a seven-year stint as head women's golf coach at Luther College.
Karius brings an impressive coaching background to Cedar Rapids. His Norse squads finished no lower than fourth place in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference/American Rivers Conference championships during all seven years of his tenure. He coached seven all-conference golfers who combined to win 12 all-conference medals. One of his golfers was a Women's Golf Coaches Association All-Midwest Region performer in 2019. The Norse won five tournament championships and set 18-hole, 36-hole, and 72-hole school records during Karius' time in Decorah.
Karius was a coach for two sports while at Luther. He also served as an assistant coach on the men's basketball team for 13 seasons. The Norse won two conference championships and one conference tournament crown during his time. The 2010-11 team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Coach Karius made an instant impact in Cedar Rapids, helping both program's earn their first all-conference honors in five-plus years. The women's team set numerous records in the 2021-22 season and had its first all-conference performer since 2016 when Megan Tanghe finished T10 at the A-R-C Championships. The men's team also had a solid 2021-22 campaign featuring one individual medalist honor and the first all-conference finish since 2017. Louis Anthony claimed individual medalist honors at Loras College's spring invite before Lucas Geiger ended the season with a T9 finish at the A-R-C Tournament in Muscatine.
The rise for the Coe golf programs continued in the 2022-23 season, with the women and men finishing fourth and fifth respectively at the A-R-C Championships. 2023-24 featured a trio of all-conference performers for Karius and his Kohawks as Molly Baker, Morgan Cain and Lucas Geiger all secured top-10 finishes at the conference championships. The all-conference finishes continued for the Kohawks in the 2024-25 seasons with the women picking up two more top-10 finishes. Kye Daywitt claimed the bronze medal at the championships with the highest finish in program history, placing third with a final score of 238. Morgan Witte was the second all-conference finisher, placing seventh to secure Coe's ninth all-conference honor in school history.
