Carlson began his coaching career as an offensive line coach at Elmhurst College from 1982 to 1984. He then moved to Franklin College for the 1984 season and Grand Valley State University from 1985 to 1987, serving in the same role as offensive line coach. Carlson became the head coach at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in the spring of 1987. He spent three seasons with Lakeland, before taking the head coach position at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana. After leaving Taylor, he was tasked with founding the football programs at Tri-State University, now known as Trine University. Carlson spent eight seasons guiding the team and led the team to 11 victories in 1998 plus an NAIA semifinal appearance and a top-three national ranking. He then led Trine to the Mid-States Football Association Mideast Conference title in 2001 and was named the conference Coach of the Year. In 2003, Carlson was named head coach at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, Ohio, and again placed in a position to build a football program at ODU like he did at Trine. Despite a 0–10 inaugural season, he quickly led the program into a prominent position in the NAIA and an undefeated regular season during the 2007 season and advanced to the quarterfinals of the national playoffs. The 2007 season also saw Carlson earn Conference Coach of the Year and was named the American Football Coaches Association Region II and American Football Monthly/Schutt Sports NAIA National Coach of the Year. Under Carlson, ODU led all of college football with an average of more than 50 points per game. While guiding the Panthers, Carlson produced five All-Americans, seven Academic All-Americans, and more than 90 All-Conference players in his six years. Carlson was named the 16th head football coach in at Valparaiso University until his firing near the end of 2013 season. Following the stint with Valparaiso, Carlson returned to his native Chicago, Illinois to serve as the assistant head coach at North Park University. Carlson returned to head coaching in 2015 when he became the second head coach in program history at Lindenwood University – Belleville, The 2015 season, marked the first for the Lynx in the Mid-States Football Association. Carlson has been active in the American Football Coaches Association and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
