John Kuczko is entering his eighth year as an assistant baseball coach at Emory & Henry College. Kuczko has been a teacher and a coach for 45 years. As a baseball coach, he won more than 100 games in the six years he was head coach at Abingdon High School, including two Regional Championships and an appearance in the state championship game in 1983.

One highlight of his time coaching baseball at Abingdon was seeing current Emory & Henry Head Coach Trey McCall drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1985 Major League Baseball Draft. In addition to McCall, Kuczko coached four other high school players who were either drafted or signed as free agents by MLB.

Kuczko coached football for 18 years at four Southwest Virginia high schools, and was an assistant to Lou Wacker at Emory & Henry from 1994 to 1996, with the 1995 team winning Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship. He also coached football at University of Virginia’s College at Wise from 1997 until 2015, serving as defensive coordinator in 2008 and 2009.

Kuczko also officiated baseball and basketball for over 30 years. He was chosen to referee four state basketball championship games and umpire six regional and state championship baseball games.

Kuczko joined the Emory & Henry baseball staff in 2016 and also serves as an adjunct professor in the College’s Health & Human Performance Department. By assisting Coach McCall, his former player, and returning to his alma mater ('76) to now coach baseball, one could say Kuczko’s career has come full circle. 

-8/24/2023