Drake served as an assistant coach for Northwestern University men's tennis team for the last three seasons. Prior to coaching at Northwestern, Drake played for Ivy League rival Brown University serving as team captain for two years and continued on to the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, where he rose to 92nd in the world doubles rankings. Second-year captain Curtis Roby '11 said he has already been impressed by Drake's professional coaching style.
"It was obvious immediately that Coach Drake is a great coach," Roby said. "Every day in practice he brings a fresh attitude, and he's consistently motivating our guys to fine tune all facets both the strengths and weaknesses of their games."
Drake has instilled a sense of urgency in the team, stressing the importance of being mentally tough throughout the entirety of each match, Roby said.
Drake will look to turn around a program that has been mired at the bottom of the League standings for several seasons. Although the Big Green took a step in the right direction last season by improving to the sixth place slot, Roby said he believes that there is still room for the team to improve.
"Our goal is always to win the [League]," Roby said. "It's definitely a tall order. Last year, we took the first step in turning around the program, but I think this year we're going to try to take an even bigger step."
Roby said he hopes to grow as a leader and assume a larger role as captain this year.
"Being a second-year captain, it was really helpful to learn from last year's captain, [Jeff Friedman '10], about how to lead the team," Roby said. "Personally, my goal is to make All-Ivy with my double's partner, [Stephen Greif '11]."
The Big Green began the season with a win, defeating Harvard University in a scrimmage on Monday in Cambridge, Mass.
"It was really nice to put up such a nice showing against Harvard, who is usually at the top of the Ivy standings," Roby said. "Hopefully we can take that sort of intensity into all of our Ivy matches coming up this year".
Dartmouth will begin its regular season, when the team will travel to Chicago, Ill., to face DePaul University on Jan. 28 and the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay on Jan. 29.
