John Sutyak joined the Ferrum College athletic staff as Director of Athletics in January 2020.
Since arriving on Ferrum Mountain Road, Sutyak has been an active member of President David Johns’ cabinet, working alongside college leadership to strengthen the College and enhance operations, including Ferrum’s five-year strategic plan: Fulfill the Promise, which was unveiled in the spring of 2021.
In his short time at Ferrum, Sutyak has overseen the addition of Men’s and Women’s Track & Field, the licensing of Ferrum’s athletic logos and marks with the Nexus Licensing Group, and has collaborated with the Office of Institutional Advancement to develop a corporate sponsorship program and the revamping of the Panther Club, Ferrum’s athletic fundraising arm. In his first two fiscal years at the helm of Ferrum athletics, the College has seen record numbers in dollars raised and participation through the Panther Club, as well as the establishment of the Black Hat Football endowment, set up to support the operations of Ferrum’s football program.
In the summer of 2021, Sutyak led the athletics department through a reimagining of its mission and the establishment of vision and value statements along the theme of Ferrum athletics being “Forged as One.” The department also developed a five-year playbook for growth in enhancing the student-athlete experience, internal athletic operations and established competitive goals for individual athletic programs.
Sutyak played an active role in the return to athletic competition after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2020-21 academic year, Sutyak served on the ODAC return to play working group and was a co-chair for Ferrum’s return to campus in the fall of 2020. In the spring of 2021, every Ferrum student-athlete had an opportunity to participate in meaning competition, as the Panthers competed in every sport that year despite the pandemic.
Ferrum has had multiple athletic highlights since Sutyak’s arrival two years ago. In its first year as a varsity program, men’s track and field scored at the 2021 NCAA Championship securing its first all-American in program history. The Panthers also saw an additional all-American performance in women’s wrestling, three academic all-America selections and three Ferrum student-athletes were named ODAC scholar-athlete of the year in their respective sports. Ferrum finished the 2020-2021 season with its highest ever standing in the ODAC men’s, women’s and overall Commissioner Cup standings. In October of 2020, the NCAA awarded Ferrum the hosting rights to the 2023 NCAA Men’s Wrestling Championship, which will take place at the Berglund Center in Roanoke. Sutyak joined the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators (NADIIIAA) Membership Committee in September of 2021, was named as the ODAC's representative on the NCAA Division III Baseball regional advisory committee for region VI in 2022 and begin a four-year term on the NCAA Nominating Committee in January 2022.
In his first year at Ferrum, men’s wrestling won its fifth consecutive conference championship and advanced to the NCAA championships, men’s basketball advanced to the ODAC tournament at the Salem Civic Center for the first time in school history, softball ended its season ranked nationally and four student-athletes earned all-America honors.
Sutyak's career began in a dual role as the assistant sports information director and area coordinator in residential life at Wheaton College (Massachusetts) in 2002. He then spent three years working in varsity sports operations and athletic facilities at Yale University before returning to Wheaton in July 2006 as the assistant director of athletics. At Wheaton, Sutyak was promoted to the associate director of athletics and interim director of athletics, before eventually assuming the permanent role of director of athletics and recreation in April 2012. He became just the second director of athletics in Wheaton’s coeducational era, which began in 1988.
During his eight-year stint as Wheaton's director of athletics & recreation, the college saw significant growth of donors and contributions to the Lyons Athletic Club. Sutyak was involved in the development and construction of Wheaton’s first artificial surface athletic field, the Diane Nordin ’80 Athletic Field, a $3.8 million project. Under his tenure, Wheaton's athletic teams qualified for 33 NCAA championship events and won 16 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) regular season and conference titles, highlighted by baseball's run to the national championship game in 2012, four top-10 finishes by the women's track and field program, and regional championships by softball in 2015 and baseball in 2017. Off campus, Sutyak served six years on the NEWMAC Executive Committee, including a two-year term as president which made him the first, and only, former NEWMAC student-athlete to also serve as conference president. Sutyak also served as the New England Chair for the NCAA Division III Softball Committee from 2009 to 2012.
Wheaton student-athletes won 4 individual national championships and two students earned national athlete of the year honors in their respective sport during his time as director of athletics. Overall, Wheaton student-athletes were honored as all-American’s 91 times and 26 times a Wheaton student-athlete was named conference athlete of the year. Additionally, Wheaton coaches were named conference coach of the year 14 times, including 4 regional coach of the year honors.
Outside of collegiate athletics, Sutyak was named to the Maine Sports Hall of Fame Board of Directors in February 2022. He also worked at Gillette Stadium during New England Patriots home games from 2002-2019, both with the Patriots media relations team and the National Football League on its Player Participation crew.
A native of Scarborough, Maine, Sutyak received his Bachelor of Arts in history from Wheaton College (Massachusetts) in 2000 and a Master of Education in athletic administration from Springfield College in 2002. During graduate school, he served as an assistant baseball coach at Western New England University during the 2001 and 2002 seasons, where he played a part in the team's first Great Northeast Atlantic Conference (GNAC) championship and its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2001. At Scarborough High School, he was a two-sport athlete (baseball and basketball) and a finalist for the Maine Mr. Baseball Award in 1996. As a four-year member of the baseball team at Wheaton, he was a member of the college's first varsity team in 1997, the program's first two NEWMAC championship teams in 1999 and 2000, and a part of its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2000. He also tied the NCAA record for home runs in one inning (2) against the University of Southern Maine in 1998.
