Entering his second season in 2020 as an assistant baseball coach at his alma mater Nova Southeastern, Kevin Suarez was promoted to supervise hitting and all facets of the offense. He continues in his second season in the role of recruiting coordinator. Suarez was elevated to assistant coach following one season as a volunteer assistant coach under former head coach Greg Brown.
"I'm so grateful for this opportunity," Suarez said at the time of the announcement. "It's pretty awesome to have been a player on the team and now a coach for Nova Southeastern. It's something that means a lot to me. This is my home, and I'll always bleed Shark blood. I'm looking forward to continuing the tradition and building future champions on and off the field."
Following a highly-successful two-year career in center field for the Sharks, Suarez spent the 2019 season manning the first base coaching box, coaching the NSU outfielders, working with hitters, defensive alignments and mentoring baserunners. Under his guidance, the 2019 Sharks ranked 27th in the NCAA with a Sunshine State Conference-leading 102 steals – averaging 2.0 per game. Six NSU players garnered at least 10 steals, with the team achieving an 80.9 percent success rate on the base paths.
Prior to his return to the Sharks, Suarez was a graduate assistant for one year at Lone Star Conference program Cameron University, also playing professionally for the River City Rascals of the Frontier League.
"I am so proud to announce Kevin Suarez as the new recruiting coordinator and assistant coach for NSU Baseball," Brown said at the time of Suarez' promotion. "Although there were many great coaches that inquired and applied, Kevin was by far the most worthy candidate to carry on the tradition of Sharks Baseball. Kevin was a National Championship player in 2016 and continued to grow beyond his time as a student-athlete. After one year as an assistant at another university, he made a huge impact on our program and its student-athletes this year as the volunteer. We had many challenges along the way in 2018-19, and Kevin was not only impactful on the student-athletes, but to me as a head coach, warranting the promotion. I could not be prouder of him as a person and leader and I look forward to many years of excellence with him leading our current student-athletes and the Sharks of the future."
During his time on the field for the Sharks, Suarez was the most prolific base stealer in the program's NCAA history, securing 47 thefts in two seasons on a program-record 90.4 percent success rate. Suarez batted .338 in his NSU career, proving an integral part of leading the program to its first NCAA Division II National Championship in 2016.
Across his two seasons as a player in Fort Lauderdale, Suarez accumulated 20 doubles among his 149 hits, as well as 73 RBI, 92 runs and reached base at a .404 clip – earning All-Sunshine State Conference second team honors as a junior and senior. Prior to NSU, Suarez played two seasons at Wabash Valley College in Illinois - named to both the All-Great Rivers Athletic Conference and All-Region XXIV First Teams with a career .356 average and 56 steals.
Born in Miami, he is also a graduate of Miami's Christopher Columbus High School. Suarez completed his degree in Sports and Recreational Management at Nova Southeastern in 2017.
