Chad Sutton

• Led Mercer to become the winningest team in program history (26-7)
• Helped the Bears win their first outright SoCon regular season title
• Coached the 2024 SoCon Player and Setter of the Year
• Led the Orange & Black to it's first postseason appearance (NIVC)
• Mentored six players to receive all-conference awards (three first team, one second team and three all-freshmen team)
• Coached Mercer volleyball's first ever AVCA All-American honoree
• Has the most amount of conference wins in the SoCon over the past two years (26)
• Mentored four players to seven combined SoCon weekly honors and an AVCA All-Region Honorable Mention honoree

In Just His First Season As Head Coach, Chad Sutton…

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• turned in the best record for a first-year head coach at Mercer since 1996 (span of six coaches)
• led the Bears to their second-most conference victories in program history
• helped MU to a runner-up finish in the final SoCon regular season standings
• led Mercer to its most road wins (7) in 15 years, including its first win at Samford in nearly three decades
• mentored two 1st team all-conference players (matched program best)
• led the Orange & Black to a dozen wins in its last 16 contests
• mentored three players to six combined SoCon weekly honors

 

A heralded coach with footprints of success at each stop of his coaching career, Chad Sutton was named the 13th head coach in the 38-year history of the Mercer volleyball program on April 6, 2023.

 

Sutton trekked to Middle Georgia from Conway, S.C., where he served as the top assistant for Coastal Carolina. He has a previous collegiate coaching stint at Purdue, and has also collected a bevy of experience at the AAU and prep level as well.

 

Coastal Carolina thrived under Sutton’s leadership, registering 17 victories and a runner-up finish among the 14 Sun Belt Conference squads during the 2022 campaign, while also ranking fifth among league leaders in hitting percentage, assists and service aces. The Chanticleers strung together a handful of 3+-match win streaks along the way, including a six-match winning skein midway through the campaign. CCU sent a pair of student-athletes to the All-SBC squads, including Ella Saada who also picked up a pair of league weekly awards as well. Sutton also spearheaded the program’s highest-ranked recruiting class – one that would eventually produce a pair of all-conference standouts.

 

Sutton dove into the collegiate coaching world as a volunteer assistant coach at Purdue during the Spring 2021 and Fall 2021 campaigns, and helped the nationally-prominent Boilermakers amass 42 victories, including 16 amid a pandemic-shortened 2020 season, as well as back-to-back appearances in the quarterfinal round (Elite 8) of the NCAA Tournament. Purdue, which led all of NCAA Division I with 372.5 blocks amid a 26 win campaign in 2021, climbed as high as No. 4 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25 that season, and secured an NCAA postseason appearance as the No. 6 national seed – the highest in program history.

 

While already enjoying a bevy of success at the collegiate level, Sutton built his foundation of coaching prowess at the grassroots level. A five-time Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune coach of the year recipient, Sutton led Cardinal Mooney High School to 100 victories across five seasons (2016-20), including a runner-up finish at the 5A State Tournament, as well as a 3A state championship crown the following year. In just four seasons, the Cougars rose from the nation’s 3,232nd-ranked prep program to the country’s 23rd-ranked high school program. Cardinal Mooney was also a regional finalist (Elite 8) during his final season in 2020 as well.

 

In the sand, the Cougars were just as dominant, making three-straight appearance in the semifinals (Final 4) of the Sunshine State Athletic Conference state championship. Sutton was named a Florida Athletic Coaching Association “All Star Coach” honoree following the 2019-20 academic year as well.

 

Sutton has produced impeccable success on the AAU circuit as well. He served as a club director (Sarasota location) for the Orlando Tampa Volleyball Academy from 2017-19, and led his squad to five top-5 finishes at the AAU Tournament across a two-year span and more than 10 top-3 finishes at national championships or national qualifying events as well. He also built a successful stint as the Director of Volleyball Events for the Nike Tournament of Champions from 2020-22.

 

A USAV-accredited volleyball coach, Sutton earned his associate’s degree from Manatee (Fla.) Community College in 2007, and received his bachelor’s degree in sport management from Florida State in 2009. He was married to Valerie Nichol, Mercer’s assistant coach, in 2023.