Coach Thomas adds two more baseball staff

Head coach “Turtle” Thomas has named Felipe Suarez, a former Broward Community College pitching coach, and Sean Allen, a former University of Houston assistant, as his assistants.

Suarez will coach the pitching staff and Allen will serve as the Golden Panthers full-time recruiting coordinator and infield coach and will assist with hitting.

“I am very pleased to have Felipe Suarez and Sean Allen on my coaching staff,” Thomas said. “Felipe brings a lot of professional and college experience to our team. The common thread among the people I talked to about him was that he is able to take whoever he works with to the next level.

“Sean has a great background as collegiate player and moved into the coaching ranks right out of school because of his great ability as an instructor.”

For more information about Suarez and Allen, click here

Star alumni join men’s soccer coaching staff

First-year head coach Munga Eketebi completed his coaching staff Aug. 14 with the appointment of former Golden Panther standouts Matias Asorey and George Moyssidis joining holdover Joe Massi as assistant coaches.

“All three of these coaches and I have graduated from FIU, played for FIU and have been part of successful teams here,” Eketebi said. “I know that they will help us maintain the winning tradition that this program has established over the years.”

Asorey was a four-year letter winner at FIU from 1999-2002. He ranks tied for ninth on the school’s all-time scoring list with 26 goals and 13 assists. He was twice named as the Atlantic Soccer Conference’s Player of the Year and a 2002 first-team All-South Region selection of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America while leading FIU to 2001 and ’02 NCAA Tournament appearances.

Massi has been associated with the men’s soccer program since he played on its very first team in 1972 and coached at all levels of the sport. He has been associated with championship teams at the professional, junior college and high school levels and worked on the Golden Panthers staff during their quest of the 1996 NCAA National Championships.

Moyssidis will begin his first season as a volunteer assistant coach. The 1980 State of Florida Player of the Year and an All-South Region selection led FIU to the NCAA Division II National Championship match after scoring 27 goals and 16 assists. In spite of playing only two intercollegiate seasons, more than 25 years later his name remains among the program’s all-time leaders in career goals (48), assists (21) and total points (117).

For more information about Asorey, Massi and Moyssidis, click here.

Coach Ronni Bernstein leaving FIU

After 11 seasons, head coach Ronni Bernstein is leaving FIU to become the new head coach at the University of Michigan. Bernstein fashioned a 177-83 record during her tenure with the Golden Panthers. Her FIU teams are three-time defending Sun Belt Conference champions and Bernstein herself was named the league’s Coach of the Year in each of the past three seasons.

In six of the last eight years, FIU finished among Division I’s Top 50 ranked teams and the Golden Panthers appeared in five NCAA Tournaments since 2001. Last season, the team ended with a 19-5 mark, a No. 30 ITA national ranking and an appearance in the NCAA’s Gainesville Regional.

“We truly appreciate everything that Ronni has done in establishing our program and we wish her nothing but the best in her new endeavor,” said FIU Athletic Director Pete Garcia.