KALAMAZOO - Western Michigan women's soccer interim head coach Suzie Grech has announced the hiring of Abby Crumpton as assistant coach.

Crumpton comes to the Broncos after playing with the Boston Breakers of the Women's Professional Soccer League, two head coaching positions and three assistant coaching positions at the collegiate level.

“Abby has tremendous playing and coaching experience at some of the highest levels in women's soccer,” commented Grech, who played with Crumpton for three years while at Michigan. “Being an attacking minded former player and coach, her understanding of the game can compliment my style of coaching very well.”

Crumpton played collegiality at the University of Michigan and after four stellar years, she left as the all-time leading scorer for the Wolverines. She was the first Wolverine ever to be named Big Ten Player of the year, garnering the award after the 2002 season and was named to the All-Big Ten team all four years.

After getting her degree in Sports Management and Communications in 2003, Crumpton was drafted 13th overall by the Atlanta Beat of the WUSA League.

Crumpton's coaching career started with a student-assistant position and then an assistant coaching position at Michigan. She also assisted at Clemson and most recently Liberty. She has also held head coaching position at Anderson College in South Carolina, leading the program to its best finish since moving to the Division II level and at Division III Pitt-Bradford.

Crumpton feels her years with Atlanta and Boston in the professional ranks can help her bring a unique point of view to the Broncos.

“Playing and have been coached at the professional level, you can take bits and pieces of what your coaches have or have not done and make yourself a better coach,” said Crumpton.

Crumpton joins the Broncos on Sunday for the first exhibition match of the season against Indiana State at 1 p.m.