Karen Lee Yoder became Cal Maritime’s Director of Athletics and Physical Education in July of 2020. Cal Maritime selected Yoder to lead the Athletics and Physical Education Department due to her students-first philosophy, which is centered on serving every student-athletes educational and personal development. As was the case at previous institutions, she strives to create an inclusive culture for student-athletes with an equity-minded approach that respects each individual. At Cal Maritime, she serves on the President’s Cabinet and as a CSU Title IX Hearing Advisor. Yoder strongly identifies with Cal Maritime’s emphasis on student leadership development and views athletics as a key platform that prepares students for the mental and physical challenges of their leadership development journey.

 

Possessing over two decades of experience at all competitive levels as an administrator, instructor, lecturer, and coach, Yoder, a former collegiate and professional athlete, joined Cal Maritime after serving as Athletics Director at Mission College (Santa Clara, CA). Throughout her two-year tenure at Mission College, she served on the President’s Cabinet, Facilities Safety Committee, College Council, Student Services Council, and Behavioral Intervention Team. She also was selected as the Coast Conference Vice President. 

 

In 2015, Yoder, a Napa Valley native, began her first role in Athletic Administration, where she channeled her passion for athletics as the Athletics Director at Calistoga Junior/Senior High School. While serving in that position, she became the Coastal Mountain Conference NCL III President, NCS Athletics Director board member, and the North Valley League treasurer and secretary. Also in 2015, Yoder became a Certified Title IX Coordinator and Administrator with the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA) and completed the Athletic Administrator Certification with the National Interscholastic Administrators Association two years later. Yoder continued her professional development with ATIXA in 2018 and ’19 by earning Title IX Compliance & Athletic Coordinator, Civil Rights Investigator Level One, and Level Three certifications. 

 

Before her tenure as an athletics administrator, Yoder’s intercollegiate athletics softball coaching career spanned the division I, division II, NAIA, community college, and high school levels. She also possesses 21 years of teaching experience as a kinesiology/physical education instructor/lecturer at Calistoga Elementary School, Diablo Valley College, Napa Valley College, Cal State East Bay (Cal State Hayward during her tenure), and UC Davis.

 

Yoder’s most recent coaching bid was at UC Davis, where she was selected to lead the Aggies’ softball program through its transition from Division II to Division I. Once the Aggies became a full-fledged member of the Big West Conference, Yoder and her softball team were responsible for the department’s inaugural conference championship as a D-I program. In 2010, three years after transitioning to NCAA DI requirements, UC Davis competed at the Stanford Regional in the Women’s College World Series. A historic season for her Aggies ended with another three honors for Yoder: Big West Coach of the Year, her selection as NCAA Division I Softball All-American Committee Chair, and Pacific Region representative. 

 

Before UC Davis, Yoder served as the head softball coach on the east coast at UNC Greensboro, locally at Napa Valley College and Napa High School, after starting her coaching career as an assistant at Cal State East Bay and West Valley College. 

 

In the North Bay, while serving as head coach at Napa Valley College, Yoder was responsible for reinstating the athletic department’s softball program. The program quickly became the top program in the Bay Valley Conference after winning a league title in 2003. Thanks to that league crown and the program’s second-ever back-to-back regional playoff appearances, Bay Valley conference officials selected Yoder as its Coach of the Year.

 

Her college head coaching career for softball commenced at Cal State East Bay (known as Cal State Hayward during her tenure); her 1999 and 2000 softball teams were inducted to CSUEB’s Hall of Fame for posting a combined 32-3 Cal Pac Conference record and recording deep postseason runs both seasons. The 1999 team is responsible for the program’s single-season team batting average of .347, a mark that stands to the present day, and a regional runner-up finish to eventual NAIA national champion Azusa Pacific. In Yoder's second season at the helm of the softball program, the Pioneers captured their inaugural Cal Pac championship, swept the league's three major awards—Player of the Year (Rachel Abrams), Pitcher of the Year (Christy Smith), and Coach of the Year— and enjoyed another successful appearance in the NAIA Region II playoffs. In addition to her team’s on-field success, Yoder led it through another divisional transition, bringing the Pioneers to the Division II CCAA level from their dual membership at the Division III and NAIA levels. 

 

Before joining its softball program as a coach, Yoder completed her bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and earned her master’s in Kinesiology at Cal State Hayward. Before embarking on her coaching and administrative career as a student-athlete, Yoder earned All-American and CCCAA Nor Cal Catcher of the Year honors at West Valley College before earning a full scholarship to continue her softball career at The University of New Mexico. Yoder played professional softball for two years—with the Women’s Professional Fastpitch League as a member of the Georgia Pride and the Durham Dragons. In addition to the CSU East Bay Pioneers Hall of Fame induction in 2024, Live Oak High School recognized Yoder for her outstanding achievements as a three-sport scholar athlete in field hockey, soccer, and softball by inducting her into its Hall of Fame in 2015. 

Updated on 9/23/24