Craig Rutter

Craig Rutter

Associate Professor of Exercise Science
Coordinator for Student-Athlete Engagement

Office: Defiance Hall, Room 208C
Phone: 419-783-2374
Email: crutter@defiance.edu

Coach Rutter accepted the head baseball coaching position at Defiance College in the Spring of 1983 and served in that capacity through the 2001 season. During that time, his teams amassed 286 wins, placing him atop the list of coaching victories in baseball at DC. Rutter was named the Hoosier-Buckeye Collegiate Conference Coach-of-the-Year in 1985 and the Association of Mideast Colleges Coach-of-the-Year in 1995 after winning the conference title. The 1985 team still holds the school record for most wins in a season (24). Rutter also coached the DC women’s golf team for 7 seasons, from 2007 - 2013. 

During his tenure as head baseball coach at Defiance College, Rutter served two years on the games committee for the NAIA Baseball Championship Series in Lewiston, ID, four years on the NCAA Baseball Rules Committee, and twelve years as chair of the American Baseball Coaches Association’s Editorial Committee. Additionally, he was editor of the Coaching Digest.

In the Spring of 2002, Defiance College paid tribute to his efforts as head baseball coach by renaming Alumni Field to Craig A. Rutter Field.

From 2001 - 2006, Rutter served the College as the Director of Service Learning. In that capacity, he provided opportunities for students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners to participate in service experiences locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. Rutter has directed three trips to Biloxi, MS before and after Hurricane Katrina to aid the people in that area. He has taken service teams to the Lakota Indian Reservation in Pine Ridge, SD, the second poorest county in the U.S., and to inner-city Detroit to assist the Good News Gang Metro and the Detroit World Outreach with service projects in the local neighborhoods.

Rutter claims that his most gratifying work, since arriving on the Defiance College campus 33 years ago, has been the 27 mission trips to Jamaica serving the people of that culture through the building of 9 homes and 2 schools, teaching and counseling at Marymount High School, an all-girls Catholic school, and witnessing to the children in local churches and orphanages. He has been instrumental in the recruitment of 19 Jamaican students to Defiance College from the fall of 2003 to the present.

Currently, Rutter is an Associate Professor of Exercise Science and Coordinator for Student-Athlete Engagement at DC. He and his wife, Gayle, reside in Defiance and have three daughters, Heidi (Steve), Holli (Tom), and Brooke (Jay), six granddaughters, and one grandson.  

Education
M.Ed., BGSU, 1978
B.S., BGSU, 1974

Professional Involvement
Member: American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance

Academic Travel
Marymount HS, St. Mary, Jamaica, June 13-17, 2015 

Courses Taught
- CPR and First Aid
- Personal and Community Health
- Group Recreational Activities
- Organization and Administration of PE and Athletics
- School Health Programs