DeKALB | The Huskies ended their search for a head softball coach on Monday, when they hired the former assistant coach at Miami University, Christina Sutcliffe.

“I’m very excited to welcome Christina Sutcliffe to the Huskie family,” said NIU Athletic Director Jeff Compher in a press release. “Christina has strong Midwest ties, head coaching experience and a thorough knowledge of the Mid-American Conference. I feel she has all the qualifications to take our softball program to the next level and lead us to a MAC championship.”

Sutcliffe will be the seventh head softball coach in NIU’s history and will bring with her 11 years of collegiate coaching experience.

Sutcliffe was drawn to NIU due to its strong competitive play and the success that it has been having as of late.

“I think the athletic department had a ton of success this last year, and I am looking forward to continuing with that success,” Sutcliffe said. “The fact that it’s in the MAC, I actually really like, because I’m coming from Miami and I’m very familiar with it.”

This will not be Sutcliffe’s first head coaching job. She spent three seasons at Rhode Island University, posting a 42-82 overall record.

She spent seven years at Miami after her stint in Rhode Island, and while she was there the RedHawks won the MAC tournament and advanced to the NCAA tournament in 2009 and 2012.

During her seven years at Miami, Sutcliffe has grown to become quite familiar with the MAC, which will be an advantage for her as well as the Huskies.

“I think it’s huge,” Sutcliffe said. “It’s completely instrumental, not only from a recruiting standpoint, but because of the familiarity I have with the other coaches and the conference is comforting to me. Plus, I know the players and I respect them and I think that the competitive level within our conference is from top to bottom and we can compete with anyone right now.”

For six of her seven years at Miami, Sutcliffe excelled in working with the hitters and catchers, and in 2011 the RedHawks recorded a batting average of .289 which tied the school-record for the highest-team batting average in a season.

“We want to hire what I consider to be PHD’s in coaching, and she certainly to us is that,” Compher said. “She has coached every aspect of the game. She has been an assistant coach, a head coach, and she was a great player. She brings this overall love of the game and a knowledge of the game that I know will be communicated and coached with our team that you’re going to see our program really turn around in the next few years.”