STRUTHERS — The committee formed to seek out the next Struthers High School football coach didn’t have to go far to find what it was looking for.

The Struthers Board of Education on Thursday approved the recommendation to hire John Bayuk as the new leader of the Wildcats football program.

Bayuk replaces Curt Kuntz, who resigned earlier this month following an eight-year stint. In his eight years at Struthers, Kuntz logged a 53-31 record, including four playoff appearances.

Earlier this week, Kuntz was officially hired as a defensive backfield coach for the Miami Dolphins.

“We’re excited, we’re very pleased to be able to make what we feel will be a smooth transition for our program,” Struthers superintendent Pete Pirone said. “John presented us with everything we were looking for in our next head coach.”

For the past seven years, Bayuk served as an assistant under Kuntz. He was the Wildcats’ defensive coordinator for the past three seasons.

“We’ve been able to watch John grow as a coach over the past few seasons, and his poise and demeanor is impeccable,” Pirone said. “He has been a huge part of our program’s success in recent years. We’re confident all of his strong attributes will carry over with him as a head coach.

“We had nothing but positive thoughts about John going into the interviewing process. We had some very strong candidates, but John’s presentation made it tough for us not to move in his direction.”

Bayuk is also employed by the Struthers School District as a social studies teacher at the high school level — another favorable factor, according to Pirone.

“It’s a huge advantage to have your head coach in the building,” Pirone said. “There are only 10 games a season. But all those other days, the coach can serve as a mentor, he can focus on the academics and all of the other aspects that truly benefit the student-athlete. The role of a coach, any coach, goes way beyond sports.”

Bayuk, 31, previously served as an assistant at Campbell for five years. With the Red Devils he coached for two years under his father (and current Warren John F. Kennedy coach) Jeff Bayuk. He then spent three years under Mickey Sikora at Campbell before moving over to Struthers.

“Being able to work under my dad, Mickey and Curt (Kuntz) for the past twelve years has provided me with so many invaluable lessons,” Bayuk said. “I couldn’t have asked for better mentors. I’ve been blessed in that I have been around great coaches nearly my entire life.”

Bayuk noted that he has had aspirations of being a head coach ever since he was a ball boy for the Hubbard High School teams that his dad coached.

“Just being around all of those coaches, seeing the impact they had on the lives of so many young men, that always stuck with me,” Bayuk said. “I learned early on that it’s not just about football. If you’re doing this the right way you are teaching life lessons.”

This past year, Struthers went 6-4 in the regular season, then bowed out to Poland in the first round of the playoffs. However, the Wildcats will lose 17 players to graduation.

“That’s going to be our biggest challenge, we have a lot of holes to fill and those outgoing seniors are great kids and great leaders,” Bayuk said.

Bayuk said he hopes to retain the bulk of the Struthers coaching staff.

“First of all, we have a handful of coaches who also work in the Struthers school system, and that is huge,” Bayuk said. “Beyond that, we simply have a bunch of great guys on this staff. We’ve been successful, so you want to maintain the continuity and consistency.”

And, Bayuk will have the added advantage of being able to pick the brain of a coach who has won a state championship.

“Absolutely I’ll lean on my dad from time to time,” Bayuk said. “Experience is the greatest learning tool, and he’s been through every scenario. He has been through it all.”

Struthers becomes the fifth area school to make a coaching change for the 2020 season. A sixth school — Chalker — continues its search for a new head coach.