Mark Sappington was named the fourth head coach of the Cleveland State women's soccer team on January 5, 2024.

Sappington arrives after spending the last two seasons as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Morehead State University.  In that time, he helped the program to a 7-7-4 record in 2022 and a 9-6-5 mark in 2023, topping the cumulative number of wins in the previous five seasons.

In his first season with the Eagles, Sappington helped the program to a plethora of accolades; a third-place finish in the OVC, the highest since 2013, seven wins, the most since 2015, and the third-longest unbeaten streak in program history with six.  He also recruited and coached a freshman goalkeeper to the program record for best goal-against average (0.84) while being named to the OVC All-Newcomer Team and being ranked nationally in several categories.

Then, in 2023, Sappington helped the program win the OVC tournament championship and make an appearance in the 2023 NCAA tournament, where the team fell to eventual national champion Florida State.  Morehead State posted nine shutouts on the year, the second-highest total in program history.  For their efforts, the team hauled in five all-conference honors, the most for the program since 1999.

Sappington joined Morehead State after spending two seasons at Campbell University as an assistant coach.  While at Campbell, he helped the program win the 2020 tournament championship and 2021 regular season championship.  During the 2020 season, he aided the team in achieving a No. 22 ranking by Top Drawer Soccer and their first NCAA tournament bid since 1993.

Sappington spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Slippery Rock University, highlighted by winning the 2019 PSAC regular season and tournament championships and advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament.  In that time, the goalkeepers held opponents to under a goal per game, while breaking multiple records.

Sappington also spent one season as an assistant coach at the University of Scranton after getting his start in college coaching as an assistant at Shippensburg University.  In his second season at Shippensburg, the team advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Sappington played four seasons as a goalkeeper at Wheeling Jesuit University while earning a bachelor's degree in psychology.  He later earned a master's degree in sports psychology from Lock Haven University.

Sappington will be joined in Cleveland by his wife Janna.