On December 13th, 2023, Eureka College announced the signing of their new head coach via Instagram on December 13th, 2023, Noah Suarez. Concerning previous coaching experience, Suarez was the assistant coach at Salem University where he attended college and played baseball, head coach at Philander Smith University from September of 2022 to December of 2023, and field manager of the Alton River Dragons starting in the summer of 2023 to present time.
Prior to this occurrence, Coach Jerry Rashid began to serve his sixth year as head coach of the Eureka Red Devils baseball team during the 2023 season. Regarding his history at Eureka, Rashid was only able to get the team above the .500-win percentage during his first year coaching the Red Devils, while having to deal with a shortened season in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, Rashid retired from coaching at the end of the 2023 season, leaving behind very little team morale.
The Red Devils, under Suarez’s first year running the show, tied their program’s record for wins (19), surpassed their program’s record for most home runs in a single season (26), surpassed their program’s record for most runs scored in a single season (302), surpassed their program’s record for most stolen bases in a single season (107), and surpassed their program’s record for highest batting average (.301). On top of these accomplishments, the Red Devils increased their on-base percentage from .344 to .408, their slugging percentage from .361 to .433, and their extra base hits total from 77 to 103, all within the course of a single season (2023-2024).
With a total of 29 players on the 2024 roster, Suarez was asked about the type of approach he had taken as a first-coach year of the Red Devils that led the team to become as successful as they were.
“It was just a cultural buy-in. Coming into the program, the guys have never had structure, so I tried to really implement structure and my culture, which is P.A.C.E. (Positivity, accountability, communication, and energy). I just took with me some information that I was given from my mentors of how to turn around a program and just ran with it.”
Suarez’s first year of experience coaching the Red Devils opened him up to some old and new techniques, but most importantly, has strengthened his role as a mentor to his players as well.
The 2024 offseason was a very big year for Suarez and the Red Devils in terms of growth. With Eureka’s baseball team making a name for themselves in 2024, their roster for the 2025 season nearly doubled, increasing to 57 players.
“We are going to have a JV [junior varsity] and a varsity team. On varsity, Coach Ryan and I said there are going to be about 42 guys and the rest will fall into that JV category and you’ll have some tweener guys that bounce back and forth,” said Suarez.
“Every position is up for grabs. I think that makes these guys hungry. I don’t care what guys did last year, it’s what can you do for me right now and what can we do to build on last year’s success. It’s going to be an instance of the best men are going to play, regardless of if you’re a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior.”
Suarez, preparing for his second year as head coach of the Red Devils, discusses his plan of attack to expand the team’s success this upcoming season. He also claims that he is not biased, which according to him helps build into the team’s success. His awareness of each individual player being on the roster for a reason enhances his confidence in how far this team can go.
Assistant Coach of the Red Devils, Ryan, grew up in Peoria, Illinois. During his time at Eureka College, he made 13 appearances his freshman year in 2021 and 12 appearances his sophomore year in 2022. After graduating, he decided he wasn’t ready to give up his love for baseball at Eureka College.
“I wanted to become assistant coach because I love the game and I just want to win,” Ryan said.
Ryan knows of the amount of potential this school has and that everybody here wants to be good. He also was not hesitant in the slightest when noting that he and Coach Suarez will do whatever it takes in order to build a winning program.
Although the Red Devils have a great coaching staff this season, there is only so much they can do, as Ryan stated later on, in order to make sure the players themselves are completing the task at hand.
“When it comes to leaders, guys tend to point themselves out,” said Ryan. The Red Devils have a good set of leaders, according to Ryan, that he hopes the younger guys can follow. If the leaders of this team, specifically the senior captains, take the new guys under their wing, they will be setting up a very successful future in terms of Red Devils baseball.
With this being Ryan’s first year of assisting Suarez full time, he is now able to be on everybody all the time. Ryan believes that having a program set forth in advance for these guys is going to be very important for the team’s success during their upcoming season.
Although the Red Devils experienced a breakthrough last season, they are not done yet. The fact that they fell just short of competing in playoff baseball last season is what motivates them to work even harder this year. With a team as big as they have and the guys they have to do it, a ring is very attainable this season.
