SAN ANTONIO — UTSA head softball coach Michelle Cheatham announced Wednesday that she has decided to resign after 10 seasons leading the program.
"I want to first thank Lynn Hickey who took a chance on me early on in my career, along with Lisa Campos in continuing to believe in me and supporting this program," Cheatham said. "There have been so many amazing relationships and genuine connections I will for-ever value from my time here at UTSA. It has meant the world to me to be a part of our girls' lives and being a part of their journey on and off the field is priceless to me. Now, I am looking forward to the new journey that I am on, but I will always and forever be a Roadrunner."
Producing the second-most wins among UTSA softball coaches, Cheatham registered a 197-287 (.407) overall record in her 10 seasons leading the Roadrunners. During Cheatham's tenure, she mentored the Roadrunners to produce 15 All Conference USA honorees, three (3) NFCA All-Region performers, seven (7) conference All-Freshman Team members, 10 members of the Conference USA All-Academic Team, five (5) Academic All-District honorees and an Academic All-American. Cheatham's UTSA teams also set program records in five offensive categories.
"Michelle has been invaluable to this program's fabric for 22 years, starring as a player, building the program as an assistant and then impacting the lives of scores of Roadrunners as their head coach – helping them to become outstanding students and strong young women in our program," UTSA Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Lisa Campos said. "She has been an exceptional ambassador for the program and will always be a part of the UTSA Athletics family. We wish her nothing but the best moving forward."
A true Roadrunner at her core, Cheatham took the reins of the program in 2014 after serving as an assistant coach for eight seasons. Prior to entering the coaching world, Cheatham was a power-hitting four-year letterwinner for the Roadrunners at catcher. She earned second team All-Southland Conference honors (2000, '02) and led the SLC with 18 home runs and 50 runs for an NFCA All-Region nod in 2000. Then Michelle McElyea, her name appears in the UTSA record book among the top 10 of nine (9) career statistical categories, highlighted by putouts (1,172/3rd), RBI (126/t-6th), walks (85/7th), runs (127/8th) and extra base hits (73/8th). In addition, Cheatham owns the single-season record for putouts with 455 in 2002, also remaining among the top 10 in seven single-season UTSA categories.
Campos will lead UTSA in conducting a national search for the Roadrunners' next head softball coach immediately.
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