Rich Sutton begins his third season serving as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Old Dominion in 2012. Sutton brings a wealth of playing and coaching experience to the Lady Monarchs staff.
The Lady Monarchs have won the Colonial Athletic Association title in each of Sutton's first two seasons and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back years including the Final Four in 2011.
Sutton has earned his USA Field Hockey Level III coaching certificate, which is the highest certificate a coach can earn in the United States. Prior to coming to Old Dominion, Sutton served as the assistant coach for four seasons at Kent State. During his time with the Golden Flashes, they won two conference titles, a conference tournament crown and earned an NCAA Tournament berth.
He recruited and developed an All-American, three Regional All-Americans and seven All-Conference players.
Sutton also served as the assistant coach at the University of Virginia during the 2005 season.
Prior to UVA, Sutton was the associate head coach at his alma mater, the University of Birmingham (England) for four seasons. During his tenure, he guided the Birmingham ladies to two national semifinals and one national title game appearance. He also served as the head coach of the Midlands U21s, leading them to a pair of National Tournament championships in three seasons. He was selected as a Midlands Academy coach and was an Individual Development coach all within the England Hockey development set up.
A 1998 graduate of the University of Birmingham, Sutton was twice a national semifinalist as a player and in his final season, he was a player/coach of the national championship team.
He continued his playing career in the Netherlands for three seasons before returning to play on the University of Birmingham's National League team as an alumnus for two years.
In 2006, Sutton was a member of the U.S. National Men's Elite coaching staff during the Bloemendaal Series. He was also Head Coach of San Francisco's High Performance Team in the Men's National Championships in 2008 and 2009.
Sutton has served as a head coach on the Futures circuit, coached at the Futures Development Invitational Clinic and High School Open, and was selected to coach at the 2007 Junior Olympics.
Field Hockey runs in Sutton's blood lines as his brother played internationally for Great Britain and his mother currently works for Wales hockey and is a former England National Team coach.
A Birmingham, England native, Sutton earned his bachelor's degree in local government studies from the University of Birmingham.