For the third straight season, Drexel Men’s Soccer will start the season with a new Coach on the sideline. Just before the 2023 season, Head Coach Michael Marchiano left his post as Head Coach to return to his alma mater University of Maryland as an Assistant Coach for the Women’s Soccer team. He was swiftly replaced by Mark Fetrow, who, upon his hiring, declared he looked to build, “a legacy of triumph and growth” in University City. That triumphant legacy lasted just 111 days before Fetrow quit his position to become the Head Coach of Villanova’s Men’s Soccer team.
As she looked to make her second hire for the Men’s Soccer team, Maisha Kelly turned to a familiar face in Dave Castellanos to bring stability back to the program. Having previously been an Assistant Coach under Michael Marchiano, Castellanos seemed like a prime candidate to calm the waters.
“I thought the offseason went fantastic,” stated Castellanos. “I think my previous relationships with the guys that I recruited and were here before I left were strong connections so coming back was pretty seamless in terms of relationship building. The ease of transition for the boys and the staff made for a very successful spring.”
Another attractive quality of Castellanos’ was that he brought Head Coaching experience with him to the position. In the interim between his stints at Drexel, Castellanos was the Head Coach at Chestnut Hill, as well as Penn State Abington. Even so, the coach is still learning to adjust to the higher level of Division I soccer.
“The Division I level is very very competitive. My first year as a head coach I am learning to wear multiple hats in the Division I world, something I did not have full access to as an Assistant Coach under Marchiano, it’s intense and it’s fast, but I am well supported by my administration and my coaching staff and the players that are going to allow me to succeed. There is a small learning curve with some of the things that go on day to day outside of just playing. On the field, the level is higher but the substance stays the same.”
When The Triangle spoke to Castellanos immediately after his hiring, he stressed that, “it’s important for me to calm the group down” in the wake of all the turnover at the top of the program.
“It was something that was in the forefront of everything that I was doing, to give these boys stability. Not that they felt like the old staff didn’t care about them, but during all of that transition, it was important for me to double down on my culture and values and make sure I was connected with the boys,” Castellanos re-emphasized. “The first brick was to reassure the boys that we are here for the right reasons, we care for them, we love them, we love being here at Drexel. Now we are going to continue layering on bricks and building this wonderful culture that I have envisioned.”
Now that Castellanos has grounded his team heading into the season, he is brimming with optimism about what he can do at the helm of his new team.
“I think the roster is great. We brought in 13 new players, a mix of international and local players. We brought in some good attackers, and that was an area that we needed improvement on. We needed a good backline to reinforce the guys we already have here and the new guys are going to help reinforce that. We have a great Midfield group, players like Isiah Whittaker-Francis and Patrick Short and Carles [Aliberch] are just fantastic. My expectation is that we are going to do some really good things with this squad. We have everything we need to be successful.”
With the team that he has constructed, Castellanos believes that he has a team all Drexel fans can be proud of.
“At the end of the day I would love to be known for exciting football, a team with character who is willing to fight and be in your face. A group that you look at and no matter who we play you say, ‘Wow, they roll up their sleeves and are willing to work and do the little things to get a result, all while playing exciting football.’ Maybe that is this utopian perspective of football, but we really just want something that our fans can be proud of which all begins with being simple, humble and hard-working.”
If Castellanos gets his team playing the kind of “Utopian football” that he has worked to drill into his roster through the offseason, then he believes his squad is going to make a name for themselves this season.
“There is no doubt our goal is to win the CAA and make it into the NCAA tournament. Those are the things we are going after and what we keep in the front of our minds when we are practicing every single day. Can we play on Championship Sunday and get a little bit of luck to win that bad boy and represent Drexel and Philadelphia in the NCAA tournament.”
While Castellanos is still working on getting acclimated to life as a Division I soccer coach, the season is upon the Dragons and no amount of preseason prognostication takes the place of performance, so all eyes will be on Drexel as they kick off the regular season on Aug. 22.