John Putyrski completed his one season with UT Arlington in 2022-23 as an assistant coach, being elevated to that position on Feb. 10, 2023, after previously serving as the program's Director of Scouting & Video since the beginning of the 2022-23 season.
After Greg Young was relieved of his duties on Feb. 10, 2023, Royce 'Snoop' Johnson was named UTA’s interim head coach for the duration of the 2022-23 season and moved Putyrski into the assistant coaching role for the final seven games (one postseason contest).
In those seven games, UTA scored 70 or more points four times; prior to that, the Mavericks had reached 70 points against a Division-I team just once all season (85 versus UT Rio Grande Valley on Jan. 19). Additionally, UTA made double-figure 3-pointers four times – something that only happened one other time all year versus a D-I foe (11 vs. UTRGV).
UTA finished the year ranked 18th nationally in offensive rebounds per game at 12.7. Individually, Shemar Wilson was 9th in the country with 3.6 offensive boards per contest. Chendall Weaver was named Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year – UTA’s first league Freshman of the Year since Roge’r Guignard claimed the Southland Conference’s award in 2007.
The Mavs had two NET Quad 2 victories to tie a single-year program record. UTA also had two road wins over NCAA Tournament teams from 2021-22: 66-55 at New Mexico State on Jan. 14 and 68-63 at San Francisco on Dec. 19.
Prior to his time with UTA, Putyrski completed a 3+ year stint at Illinois State, rising through the Redbirds’ staff from video coordinator (2019-20) to Director of Player Personnel (2020-21) to Director of Operations (2021-22) before eventually being elevated to assistant coach (2022).
With the Redbirds, Putyrski was instrumental in the development of Antonio Reeves, an all-Missouri Valley Conference selection who last year totaled the 4th-most points (662) in Illinois State single-season program history before transferring this offseason to Kentucky.
In his role as Illinois State’s Director of Operations, Putyrski assumed a bigger lead in on-court player development, along with the identification and recruitment of prospective student-athletes. He also conducted all advanced scouting for Redbird opponents.
As the Director of Player Personnel and video coordinator, Putyrski was responsible for organizing and overseeing all film and video operations for the program. This included developing databases for team playbooks, opponent film-edits and scouting reports, as well as coordinating video exchange with opponents. He was also responsible for creating and maintaining the program’s monthly newsletter and YouTube page for fans and high school coaches.
Prior to his time in Normal, Putyrski spent the 2018-19 season as an assistant coach at Eastern Florida State College. He helped lead the Titans to a 28-8 record as the squad advanced to the quarterfinals of the National Junior College Athletic Association National Tournament. In just his first season as an assistant coach, Putyrski was named one of the top junior college assistants in the country by Coachstat.net and was praised for excelling in recruiting, teaching, game-planning and player development.
During his lone season at EFSC, six players earned all-conference honors and went on to play at the D-I level. Also in charge of overseeing academics at the Melbourne, Fla.-based school, the team recorded a program-record 3.14 GPA.
Putyrski began is post-grad work as a graduate assistant at Chattanooga. He was a student manager for Illinois State from 2011-16, including serving as head manager for the 2015-16 season.
Originally from Chicago, Putyrski is a 2016 Illinois State graduate with a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences. He received his Master’s degree in Public Administration from Chattanooga in 2018.
