Larson comes full circle after being named new LHS baseball coach

By Andy Brown
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Updated: August 5, 2019

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg High School has a new head baseball coach as Kade Larson was named as the successor to former head coach Joel McGhee, who resigned early in the summer.

Kade Larson made a big impact on the Louisburg High School baseball program in his four years of playing for the Wildcats from 2010-2013.

Larson still holds numerous team records and was an All-Frontier League player during that span. His baseball life came full circle recently as he was named as the LHS head baseball coach and the hire was approved by the USD 416 Board of Education in June.

Now, one of the best players in Louisburg baseball history, will be leading the Wildcat program from a different perspective.

“I’m very excited to get started and I look forward to developing the new and returning players to their best potential,” Larson said. “This is very special to me to be able to return and be the head coach for this program.”

Larson was the assistant coach for the Wildcats last season and will take over from former coach Joel McGhee, who resigned toward the end of last school year. McGhee spent the last four years as the Louisburg head coach.

“Kade will do a great job and he’ll have great support from his home town community,” McGhee said. “We had had significant transition over the four years, having had six assistants. We were very competitive in a lot of games, but tended to have a bad inning that would come back to bite us. This past season could have been a good one, but we had several things that came up that knocked down our team strength throughout the season.”

Another former Wildcat will join Larson on the bench this upcoming season as former head coach Jeff Lohse will return as the team’s assistant coach. Lohse spent 17 years as the Louisburg head coach and helped lead two teams to the state tournament during that span.

Larson played under Lohse during his entire high school career and he is excited to have his former coach on the bench with him.

“I’m very happy to be the new head baseball coach,” Larson said, “The experience I gained last year will be very important to the success we hope to find this year. Coach Lohse will be very helpful. Any time you can get that much experience on the bench, it helps tremendously.”

Lohse remembers Larson during his playing days and he could tell, even then, that Larson would have the opportunity to become a head coach one day.

“Kade was a competitor and very knowledgeable of the game even back when he was in high school,” Lohse said. “He still holds many records for us and is one of the best to ever put on the jersey. I know his goal was to be a head baseball coach one day, but I don’t think he ever thought it would happen so quickly for him.

“Kade has a passion for coaching and is willing to put in the work and time to help this program be successful. We are happy to have him back in the purple and white.”

Larson currently holds three Louisburg baseball records, including career hits (109), career doubles (30) and doubles in a season (13). He is also in the top three of four other categories as he put together one of the best offensive careers in Louisburg history.

He will now try to translate that success to his current players as he begins the newest chapter of his baseball career.