UAM SOFTBALL ADDS SUYDAM TO COACHING STAFF

MONTICELLO, Ark. – The University of Arkansas at Monticello softball announces the addition of Autumn Suydam to serve as the assistant coach under Head Coach Kyle Lem.

“I am very thankful to have Autumn coming on board to complete our staff,” said Lem. “She was an outstanding player in our conference, worked in a championship caliber program as a graduate assistant and helped jump start a program as a Division II assistant. She has a very good eye for talent on the recruiting side and her organizational skills will be a great asset to our program. I know she will help get UAM softball up to the next level.”

Suydam spent the previous two years as the Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance and Academic at her alma mater and fellow Great American Conference member East Central University. In her role at ECU she supervised the initial, continuing and transfer eligibility certification process, oversaw the athletic scholarship budget, monitored recruiting activities and official and unofficial visits and provided rules education for coaches, staff and student-athletes.

Prior to joining the ECU athletics staff, Suydam served as an assistant coach at Franklin Pierce for the 2019 season where she helped three players earn All-Northeastern 10 Conference selection. She helped the Ravens see offensive improvement in walks, strikeouts, home runs and steals while overseeing the outfield, hitting and base running instruction.

Before her time at Franklin Pierce, she was a graduate assistant coach at another GAC member at Southern Arkansas for two seasons. Suydam was tasked with overseeing the team’s hitting and outfield play. The Muleriders made NCAA Championship appearances in each of her seasons, including a run to the national semifinal in 2018. The 2018 campaign earned Southern Arkansas’ staff recognition as the Central Region Coaching Staff of the Year from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). Suydam’s lineup also produced the GAC Player of the Year during both of her seasons.

Suydam also spent time in the GAC as a player with the ECU softball team for four years. She helped the team to its first GAC Championship in 2015 while hitting .423 with 63 hits and 20 RBI. Over the course of her career she was named to the NFCA All-Central Region team twice, All-GAC teams three straight seasons and the GAC All-Tournament team three times.

She was also a standout in the classroom earning Google Cloud CoSIDA Academic All-America first team honors in 2016 and second team in 2015, making her just one of three ECU student-athletes to be named to the Academic All-America teams twice. She was also selected as the D2 CCA Central Region Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the GAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and ECU Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

“I want to thank Coach Lem for the opportunity to return to coaching and join the UAM family,” said Suydam. “UAM Softball has a rich tradition of academic and athletic excellence that I admire. I am excited to get on campus, meet the team, and get started!”

The Keller, Texas, native received a bachelor’s degree from ECU in Criminal Justice in 2016. She went on to earn a master’s degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis in coaching from Southern Arkansas in 2018. She is engaged to ECU Assistant Athletic Trainer Marcus Wyatt.