Defensive back coach John Svatik is entering his 20th season with the University of New Haven football team in 2018. Overall, Svatik has been strolling the sidelines for over 40 years with his first coaching stint coming at Western Michigan for the 1977 season.
Svatik returned to New Haven for the 2014 season when current head coach Chris Pincince took over at the helm. In the four years prior to his return, he served as the head coach at Stratford High School. This most recent stint with the Blue and Gold is his fourth time strolling the sidelines at DellaCamera Stadium with his first coming for three seasons from 1988-1990 when he worked with the receivers and linebackers. That first appearance on the Chargers staff followed his first head coaching opportunity which came at Notre Dame High School in Fairfield, Conn., a position he held from 1979-87.
Svatik spent one season away from New Haven in 1991 as the offensive coordinator at Sacred Heart Univesity, his first of two appearances on the Pioneers staff. When he returned to the Blue and Gold in 1992, he would spend the next 10 years as the secondary coach under a trio of coaches; Mark Whipple, Tony Sparano and Darren Rizzi.
Following the departure of Rizzi in 2001, Svatik the next three seasons as the secondary coach at Wesleyan University before returning to Sacred Heart as the secondary coach from 2005-07. Following the 2007 season, he returned to New Haven for two years before taking the lead position at Startford. Â
A three-year letterwinner at Western Connecticut State, Svatik led the Colonials in nearly every offensive category during his tenure. He graduated from WSCU in 1976.
Svatik and his wife Lynn have two adult children, Jennifer and Amy, a son in-law Ryan, who is Central Connecticut's Offensive Coordinator, and two grandsons, Jake and Drew.
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