Since Donald Dutcher's arrival at Herkimer County Community College in 2004, the athletic program has emerged as one of the top junior college athletic programs in the country. In his 5 years as director, Herkimer has won 9 national championships eleven regional championships and 7 NJCAA Academic Teams of the Year. Also the College placed second nationally among non-scholarship Division III community college athletic programs in the NATYCAA Cup Award (2008). Herkimer earned third place finishes in the NATYCAA Cup in 2006 and 2007 as well as a fifth place finish in 2009. As a member of the Mountain Valley Conference, Herkimer also finished third in the Region III Directors Cup in 2007-2008. Both awards are given annually to recognize overall athletic program excellence at the national and regional levels.

In supporting the mission of the College, Dutcher is committed to providing students a quality athletic experience as an integral and valued component of their total educational experience. Under Dutcher's leadership, Herkimer's student-athletes have continued to excel in the classroom. Herkimer has earned NJCAA Academic Team of the Year awards and Academic All-Region awards. Additionally, many student-athletes were named Academic All-Americans, Distinguished All-Americans and have received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Athlete Excellence.

Dutcher took over as director just as Wehrum Stadium opened as one of the premier community college athletic venues in the nation. Since its opening in July 2005, Wehrum Stadium has hosted many national and regional soccer and lacrosse tournaments and high school contests, as well as all HCCC home soccer and lacrosse games. Under Dutcher's leadership, the operation of Wehrum Stadium has been very successful. Other achievements have included the implementation of the Green and Gold Club and numerous improvements to the College's athletic website, including an emphasis on updated information, media guides, photos and photo albums.

Dutcher serves as president of the Mountain Valley Conference (elected August 2005), Region III Board of Directors, chair of the Region III Softball Committee, He is also a member of the Region III Standards and Ethics, Women's Basketball, Women's Soccer, Swimming, Track & Field (I&O), and Men's Lacrosse Committees. He also chairs the Herkimer County Community College Intercollegiate Athletic Council. In 2009 he graduated from Leadership Mohawk Valley.

Dutcher previously was a teacher; soccer, basketball and baseball coach; and athletic director at Poland Central School. Prior to that, he taught at Herkimer High School and coached men's and women's soccer, basketball, track and tennis. He was named Mohawk Valley Coach of the Year in 2004 for leading Poland Central's basketball team to the State Final Four. In 2003, he was inducted into the SUNYIT Hall of Fame as recognition for his athletic accomplishments.

A 1990 graduate of Herkimer County Community College, Dutcher was the all-time leading scorer for the HCCC men's soccer team, an honor which he held for six years. He was a member of the first-ever team to make the national tournament, and received All-Region honors both years. He earned bachelor's degrees from SUNYIT, where he was also the all-time leading scorer for the soccer team, and SUC at Oswego. He also holds a master's degree and Certificate of Advanced Study from SUC at Cortland.

A native of Poland, NY, Dutcher is a 1988 graduate of Poland Central School. He and his wife, Julie, live in Deerfield with their sons, Jordan and Jesse.

Shawn Noël was appointed assistant director of athletics in October 2007. Noël has a very diverse background in athletics.  Prior to his arrival at Herkimer County Community College, Noël was a state program examiner for the Office of the State Comptroller in Albany.  He also served as assistant baseball coach at Hudson Valley Community College where he helped lead the Vikings baseball team (21-5) to the Mountain Valley Conference championship and the Region III Final Four during the 2007 season.  

A graduate of Guilderland High School in 1994, Noël was a varsity letterman in both baseball and volleyball. Noël continued his baseball career at Springfield College in 1995 for one year and transferred to SUC at Oswego starting in the spring of 1996.  Prior to his graduation from Oswego in 1999, Noël landed an internship with the 26-time world champion New York Yankees during the 1998 season. He served as stadium operations assistant working primarily with the human resources and marketing departments. His fondest memory of the 1998 season was being on a float in the ticker tape parade in New York City to celebrate the New York Yankees' 24th world championship.

Noel's extensive coaching background includes the head and assistant baseball coaching positions at SUNY Cobleskill from 2000 to 2006 where he helped guide the 2006 Fighting Tigers into the Region III playoffs and to the most wins by a team in school history. His 2005 baseball squad boasted the highest GPA among all male athletic programs at SUNY Cobleskill.  Since the summer of 2006, Noel  has coached the North Colonie Padres 13U, 14U and 15U and 16U baseball travel teams to various tournament victories.  He continues to be credited for giving young players the knowledge and tools to be confident and successful on the baseball diamond.   

Noël has also worked in various roles for the now defunct Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs of the Northern League, an independent professional baseball league. In his final season with the Diamond Dogs in 1999, he served as event marketing coordinator handling in-game promotions, group sales, brochures and media relations.

Noël holds a master's degree in business administration from the University at Albany (2004) and a bachelor of science degree in marketing from Oswego State (1999).

Noël resides in Frankfort, NY.

Academic Support Specialist John Campagna is responsible for tracking and monitoring student athlete academic success. Campagna developed a system which allows communication between teaching faculty, coaches and athletes throughout the academic year. HCCC has earned a prestigious record of 27 Academic Team of The Year awards and has had over 160 players named Academic All-Americans in a variety of sports since 1991.

As the head athletic trainer, Kyle Roepnack is responsible for evaluating and treating athletic injuries and working with athletes through rehabilitation. Roepnack's goal is to ensure that every athlete is as healthy as possible for their athletic contests. A wide variety of treatments are offered including ultrasound, electric stim, whirlpool therapy, hot and cold therapy and various therapeutic exercises. Roepnack has been a certified athletic trainer since 1998. He holds a B.S. from Springfield College and previously worked for Utica City School District at Proctor High School. Roepnack has worked at Herkimer since 2005.