Dom Gutowski feature for Rutgers-Newark website
By Jim Hague
It was almost four years ago when Dom Gutowski was ready to make the most important decision of his life. For all intents and purposes, the decision was made. After a solid two-year high school career playing volleyball for Old Bridge, traditionally one of New Jersey’s top scholastic programs, Gutowski was headed to Rutgers University in New Brunswick.
Gutowski was a late bloomer in the sport of volleyball, never having played until he was a junior at Old Bridge. He was a football player first and foremost, a tight end and backup quarterback. He used to play baseball and run track, but gave those sports up to concentrate on his true love, the gridiron.
“I had some friends who talked me into playing volleyball,” Gutowski said. “I was never really into volleyball at all.”
Standing 6-foot-7, Gutowski certainly had the height to be a successful middle hitter in volleyball. He found out soon enough that he indeed had talent and had the desire to play.
“I always loved competing,” Gutowski said. “I always loved being part of a team. To me, there’s nothing like competing. I found out that I was pretty good at volleyball.”
Sometime during his senior year, Rutgers-Newark men’s head volleyball coach and director of volleyball operations Pedro Trevino went on a recruiting trip to Old Bridge to watch some of Gutowski’s teammates. Trevino quickly noticed the tall guy in the middle.
“I saw him make a couple of nice blocks that caught my eye,” Trevino said. “I liked the way he blocked. I knew his coach (Andrew Hopman) and asked about Dom’s plans. He said that he was definitely going to Rutgers in New Brunswick.”
Gutowski had no other colleges looking at him. Trevino was the first coach to express any interest.
“Pedro talked to me about Rutgers-Newark,” Gutowski said.
Gutowski wanted to major in business at Rutgers. Well, it just happened that Rutgers-Newark has a highly accredited and acclaimed business school. Plus, Gutowski was not going to get a chance to play volleyball at Rutgers in New Brunswick, only in intramurals and perhaps on the club level. Trevino was offering the one thing that Gutowski loved more than else in sports, the chance to compete.
“That was a big part of it,” Gutowski said. “When I came for a visit, I loved the (Golden) Dome. I loved the way it echoed. I knew that there would be a big home court advantage playing here. The (business) degree would be the same.”
Gutowski was also an excellent student in high school, garnering a gaudy 4.5 grade point average and scoring 2050 on his Scholastic Aptitude Tests. He took his fair share of Advanced Placement classes at Old Bridge High that would translate well into his college folder.
Needless to say, a marriage was made. New Brunswick’s loss was Newark’s gain. Gutowski was headed north to Newark to become a member of the Scarlet Raiders.
“When I was looking around the campus, I thought it was really nice,” Gutowski said. “I was pleasantly surprised.”
Gutowski had to bide his time in Newark. There were some standout players on the Scarlet Raiders’ front line, veteran standouts like Cody Chidsey and Nick Kuti, middle hitters that were recruited when R-N’s volleyball program was NCAA Division I.
“My freshman year, we had some very good players up front,” Gutowski said. “I played here and there. Speed was the biggest difference from high school to college. It took a while for me to get used to the speed of it all. At times, I felt like I should have been out there, but I understood where Pedro was coming from. The best players played and I had to wait for my opportunity.”
Trevino said that it was just a matter of time for Gutowski to develop.
“He just didn’t have the body to play right away,” Trevino said. “He did get the chance to practice against Cody and Nick a lot and that helped him. He got to compete against them regularly and did a nice job.”
Gutowski’s personality helped him develop.
“He’s a hard worker,” Trevino said. “Everybody likes him. He worked hard on trying to hit the ball in certain spots. He’s also a very smart kid. When he was sitting on the bench, I could see him talking to other guys and helping them.”
Gutowski worked hard in the offseason after his first two seasons with the Scarlet Raiders.
“I went back to my high school and played a lot with the guys there,” Gutowski said. “I always worked on the little things, trying to get better. I worked with the guys in Old Bridge quite a bit.”
Gutowski also did a lot of studying about the sport.
“I did a lot of preparation,” Gutowski said. “I watched a lot of videos. I read a lot. I read about certain situations and how to play, who to serve to. I read a few things that Coach (Trevino) would read to stay ahead of the game.”
After two years of playing a reserve role with the team, Gutowski became more of a starter last season.
“Last year was a little bit of a down year for us,” Gutowski said. “We have numbers in mind of what we would like to do this year. We want to qualify for the CVC (Continental Volleyball Conference) tournament, make a run at it and see what happens. It’s my last year, so I have a little more motivation. I think this team is better prepared than what we were last year. We have a lot more experience to build off of. I’m excited to see how things turn out.”
The season is still in the infant stages. The Scarlet Raiders are off to a strong start, having won four of their first five matches, including three straight wins at the Alvernia University Tournament last weekend.
Gutowski has 25.5 points, 18 kills, eight blocks and three service aces in the early going.
“In practice, Dom has become one of our better servers,” Trevino said. “His serve has become a weapon.”
Trevino said that he enjoys Gutowski because the two men share a similar passion outside of volleyball – and that’s a love of football.
“Dom is a great college football fan,” Trevino said. “He’s been coaching some high school football, so he keeps involved. I love having conversations with him about football. He’s a big Clemson fan and I’m from Wisconsin, so I root for Wisconsin.”
Gutowski said that he could see himself coaching football at some point, but for now, he’s content with playing college volleyball and getting his academics in order for the next step in his life.
“I’m already applying to some law schools,” said Gutowski, who will definitely apply to Rutgers Law as well. “I’m working on that right now. It’s pretty scary to think about that, but I hope to start law school in the fall.”
Gutowski holds a 3.4 GPA at R-N. He wants to study corporate/business law, working on contracts and such.
Trevino said that he has been honored to coach Gutowski over the last four years.
“I can’t say enough about how proud I am of this kid,” Trevino said. “He’s such a great kid. I would trust him 100 percent with my own kids. He represents our program well and I’m excited to see what the next chapter is in his life. I’m going to be a little sad when he graduates. He will be missed.”
Needless to say, Gutowski is happy that Trevino talked him into coming to Newark instead of New Brunswick.
“I’m really glad I came to Rutgers-Newark,” Gutowski said. “I met a lot of good people and I learned a lot. It’s the most diverse college in the country and I love that fact. I definitely made the right choice.”
