MAGNOLIA – The Southern Arkansas University baseball team will celebrate two milestones on Saturday, Oct. 15, as the team receives its 2011 Gulf South Conference championship rings and Mulerider Field officially becomes Goodheart Field. Both ceremonies will take place at Walker Stadium at approximately 6 p.m. (immediately following the homecoming football game).
The Muleriders picked up their third Gulf South Conference championship as they exited the league in 2011. The team finished the season 36-16 in the second round of the NCAA Division II South Regional baseball tournament.
Donors to the championship ring program will be on the field to help distribute rings to members of the 2011 team.
After the ring ceremony, SAU administrators will officially change the name of Mulerider Field to Goodheart Field in honor of long-time coach Steve Goodheart. Members of the SAU Foundation’s Goodheart Society will be recognized on field as well.
Goodheart, who built the Southern Arkansas baseball program into a national power, retired in 2003 after serving 23 years (1981-2003) as head coach. Easily the most wins in school history, his Muleriders won 764 games, lost 416, and tied five, for a .647 percentage. Goodheart’s 764 wins places him second all-time among collegiate coaches in the state of Arkansas behind only the University of Arkansas’ Norm DeBriyn, who retired in 2002 with 1,161 wins in 33 years as head coach of the Razorbacks.
A native of Great Falls, Mont., Goodheart came to what was then Southern State College to play baseball for the Muleriders in 1972. In four years he was a part of two championship Mulerider teams in the now defunct Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference. He was an All-AIC selection in 1975 and played in the AIC All-Star games in both 1975 and 1976. As a student assistant in 1977, he once again helped SAU claim another AIC championship.
Following graduation, he spent a year at Camden Fairview High School as head baseball coach, before going to the University of Arizona for the 1979 season to become a graduate assistant with the baseball program. In his first year there, Arizona was ranked fifth nationally, and in his second year, the Wildcats won the NCAA College World Series. Goodheart received his M.Ed. in physical education from Arizona in 1980, and was hired as a young baseball coach.
Goodheart, who operated with a non-scholarship program for approximately 15 years, guided his Southern Arkansas teams to nine AIC championships, including six consecutive from 1986-1991, eight NAIA District 17 titles and two area championships. He led the 1983, 1987 and 1991 teams to the NAIA World Series, with his ‘87 squad finishing third in the nation, posting an impressive 46-7 record, the best finish ever for an SAU team. Goodheart also oversaw the baseball program’s transition to the Gulf South Conference and NCAA Division II in 1996.
More than 50 of Goodheart’s former players signed to play professional baseball. He coached 54 first team All-AIC players, 26 first team NAIA All-District selections, five NAIA All-Area players, 12 NAIA Southwest Region selections, 17 NAIA All-Americans, 33 first team All-GSC choices, 11 NCAA All-Region picks, and two NCAA All-Americans.
Goodheart was chosen AIC Coach of the Year seven times and NAIA Area V Coach of the Year twice. In 1984, he was selected as one of five coaches to evaluate talent in the region for selections on the 1984 USA Olympic baseball team.
In Goodheart’s final eight seasons competing against the GSC West Division, his Muleriders finished runner-up seven times to established NCAA II powerhouse Delta State University. His record against Division II opposition was even better than against NAIA members, recording 287 wins, 126 losses, and two ties for a .694 percentage from 1996-2003.
