EUREKA – Noah Suarez has been named Eureka College baseball coach, according to an announcement from Director of Athletics Sara Shaw on Wednesday.
Suarez comes to Eureka after a notable stint as head coach at Philander Smith University in Little Rock, Arkansas.
"We are thrilled to welcome Coach Suarez to the team," Shaw said. "He is an energetic leader with a passion and excitement for baseball and the student-athlete experience, as well as a fantastic recruiter. He sees the incredible potential in our baseball program and Eureka College athletics, in general, just as we do, and we can't wait to see where he takes our program.
"It's a great day to be a Red Devil."
In 2022, Suarez successfully relaunched the Philander Smith baseball program after a 45-year hiatus. Hired in September of that year, he signed 21 players in 14 days to secure a season the following spring. The team proceeded to win 14 games and finished third out of six teams in the NAIA's Gulf Coast Athletic Conference.
Under his guidance, the Panthers set new school records for most home runs in a single game (three), most no-hitters in a season (two) and most stolen bases in a single game (18). Philander Smith had two All-GCAC honorees and the conference's Freshman of the Year award, among other honors.
"I want to thank Athletic Director Sara Shaw and President Jamel Wright for selecting me as the next head baseball coach at Eureka College," Suarez said. "I look forward to bringing a winning culture to the Red Devils program and am excited for this opportunity."
Prior to coaching at Philander Smith, Suarez was an assistant coach for a year at his alma mater, Salem University. There, he was the Tigers' infield, hitting and baserunning coach, and he saw significant improvements in all three areas.
Suarez graduated from Salem University in Salem, West Virginia with a bachelor's in business administration in 2020 and he received his master's in business administration sports and recreation management the following year.
At Salem, he was an everyday starter as an outfielder and second basemen, finishing his career with a school-record 80 stolen bases. He helped Salem win a school-record 26 games in 2018. Before that, Suarez started his collegiate career at Mercyhurst Northeast University in Northeast, Pennsylvania, where he set a single-season program record for walks in a season (38).
He has also served as coach or general manager of a club in a collegiate baseball league in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for the past four Junes and coached in Dansville, NY in the summer of 2022 before taking over as head coach at Philander Smith.
Suarez succeeds Jerry Rashid, who retired this fall after seven years at the helm of the program. This spring, the Red Devils will return 18 players from last year's squad, which won 13 games and earned a SLIAC Tournament victory for the first time in program history.