Profile: David Suvak
David Suvak is the head women’s soccer coach in the Athletics Department. He is getting ready to welcome 22 players this weekend to start the 2019–2020 season. Ten players are new and twelve are returning. During the two-week preseason, the team will work on polishing technique and match tactics and play two scrimmages against Suffolk University and Brandeis University.
He and his team of three assistant coaches have been working on strategy and tactics for the 18 games the team will play this season as members of the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC), as well as eight non-conference games. The team’s first match is against Regis College at Rotch Field on August 30 at 1:00 pm.
Besides coaching the current team during its August–November season, Suvak is also involved in recruiting for future teams. He and one of his assistant coaches are currently looking at high school juniors and seniors for the Fall 2020 and 2021 seasons. They do a lot of recruiting in California, Florida, New York, and New Jersey. They attend tournaments around the country to identify quality players, meet coaches, and develop relationships with director of coaches at clubs. They also search and review websites that list player profiles and the majors they are interested in. As well as looking for high-quality players who are interested in studying subjects that Emerson offers, he is also looking to create a team of players with diverse backgrounds.
He has been at Emerson for 14 years. He started as a volunteer assistant coach and then was hired part-time as a men’s assistant coach. When the full-time position opened for a head women’s coach in 2010, he applied and was hired.
Before coming onboard full-time, he owned his own architectural design business. He specialized in working on new and historic homes. He worked for two prominent design firms in Boston before starting his own business, designing college and university buildings all over the country. A trip to Europe after graduating from Boston College with a BA in fine arts solidified his interest in architecture, and he then attended Boston Architectural College and obtained a BArch.
He enjoys working at Emerson because he likes being surrounded by intelligent, creative people, and he finds it a good marriage between his soccer and design life. His background in soccer includes playing on a semipro team and also playing at Boston College, an NCAA Division I program.
Suvak lives in his hometown of Winchester, Massachusetts, with his wife. He has two adult daughters and a son who is a junior at Emerson. Not surprisingly, he is a member of the men’s soccer team.
Cooking is a favorite hobby of Suvak’s. He specializes in cooking a complete Thanksgiving dinner and making breakfast egg sandwiches with Taylor ham. He also enjoys photography, and in the summer, you will find him outside playing golf, tennis, and paddle boarding.
Nancy Howell (Marketing)