After serving as the head baseball coach at Eden Prairie High School for 11 seasons, John Buteyn has left the district to become the activities director at Jordan Public Schools.
Buteyn, who was raised in Eden Prairie but currently resides in Waconia, will be responsible for overseeing activities at both the high school and middle school in the Jordan district.
He replaces Joe Perkl, who became the new EPHS director of student activities on July 1. Perkl replaced Russ Reetz, who is now the principal at White Bear Lake Area High School.
A 2004 graduate of EPHS, Buteyn returned to the school in 2013 as the head baseball coach. Since the fall of 2014, he has also served as a social studies teacher.
During his senior year, Buteyn pitched and played first base on the EPHS team that won the school’s first baseball state championship in 2004.
In 2017, as the team’s coach, he led EPHS to its third state baseball championship. It’s worth noting that the team also won in 2010, before his tenure. Buteyn’s coaching record at EPHS stands at 137-88.
Buteyn described his departure from EPHS as bittersweet.
“It was a tough meeting yesterday, letting the guys know that I would be moving on,” Buteyn said on Friday. “Sometimes you think there’s this group (of players) coming through and you just want to see them through, and then you can move on. Then, you get to know the other guys, and it keeps going. There’s no perfect time necessarily to make the change. But in every respect, this was a great opportunity that I knew I couldn’t pass up. There’s good and bad with every change, but I’m excited about the move.”
Both as a participant and coach, Buteyn said he saw firsthand the impact that sports and extracurricular activities have on students’ development.
“So, getting into administration along those lines seems like the right next step whenever the right opportunity came along,” he said. “I believe Jordan is a great spot for someone who is entering the profession, and it might be a place where I would like to stay for a long time.”
During his tenure as the EPHS coach, John Buteyn had his father, Bob, as a volunteer coach on his staff.
“That was a special part of being able to coach as long as I had — to do it with him as well,” Buteyn said.
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