The 2025 Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year has bolstered the SIUE softball program back to prominence since being tapped as the head coach in August 2022.
In three seasons, he has led the Cougars to the championship game of the OVC Tournament twice while his team has earned numerous honors. That includes the 2025 OVC Freshman of the Year Avery Arwood and 2024 co-Player of the Year Paige Rocha.
SIUE’s numbers also saw in serious upgrade in 2025. The Cougars were ranked in the top two most statistical categories on offense and defense, including a .327 batting average in OVC play. SIUE broke the school record for home runs in a season with 45 as Emma Henderson set a new Division I standard with 13 home runs.
While playing a tough schedule, the Cougars recorded 32 wins in 2025 for Sorden’s second 30-win season in three seasons.
The Cougars also have been winners in the classroom, help lead the SIUE Athletic Department to 38 consecutive semesters of a cumulative grade point average above 3.0. That includes two SIUE softball players (Piper Montgomery and Kaylynn Salyars) with perfect 4.0 for the 2024-25 season.
Sorden previously spent the last decade as an assistant coach in the Big Ten Conference, having joined SIUE after holding positions at Michigan State and Indiana. He helped the pitching staffs to national honors and top-notch results.
The Lone Tree, Iowa, native spent five seasons at Michigan State, where the Spartans sported a 2.38 earned run average and a 1.11 WHIP over 350 innings of play.
Over the five seasons, he helped guide one All-Region selection, two Academic All-Americans, 22 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars and 60 Academic All Big Ten award winners. He also served as the recruiting coordinator and scouting report coordinator.
Sorden previously served as a pitching coach at Indiana from 2014 to 2017. During that tenure, the Hoosiers had six All-Big Ten picks, 42 Academic All-Big Ten selections and four NFCA All-Region honorees.
Sorden made the jump to Division I softball after serving as an assistant coach at Coe College (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) where he oversaw three All-American pitchers, seven NCAA All-Region pitchers and four Iowa Conference Pitchers of the Year.
Coe won three conference championships, made eight NCAA Regional appearances and two NCAA Division III Women's College World Series appearances (fifth place, 2006; second place, 2009). Coe finished in the NCAA Top 25 nine times.
He was the head coach for Solon High School (Solon, Iowa) in 2011 and 2012, where he earned back-to-back WaMaC East Coach of the Year honors after leading Solon to back-to-back WaMaC East Championships, consecutive Regional Championships and two state tournament appearances, including a runner-up finish in 2012. In two seasons, Sorden's teams recorded a 71-17 record and produced seven All-State players as well as a 3A Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year in 2012. He was tabbed the 2012 Northeast Iowa District Coach of the Year.
His coaching experience includes serving as an assistant coach at South Mountain Community College (Phoenix, Arizona) in 2010 as well as three years as a student assistant at Buena Vista University (Storm Lake, Iowa). While on Buena Vista’s staff, the Beavers placed fifth at the NCAA Division III College World Series in 1994.
Sorden is a 1995 graduate of Buena Vista University, where he earned a bachelor’s in management and entrepreneurship. A member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, he has served as a clinician at numerous softball camps and clinics and has experience as an NCAA football referee, including the 2011 NCAA Division III semifinals.
