PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — John White has been the head men’s and women’s squash coach at Drexel University since 2011. White, who was born in Australia and emigrated to Scotland, is the only head coach the current varsity programs have ever known.
In 2022, the women’s team at Drexel finished its season as national runner-up and the second-ranked team in the country.
White’s resume as a squash player is incredibly impressive, as he has traveled the globe playing the sport, and at one point he was the top-ranked player in the world with a shot about 70 miles per hour faster than the swiftest major-league fastball.
“Since the age of 19, I've been living and loving the game of squash,” White said.
“It's life lessons, traveling at such a young age…you get to see the different cultures you sort of live in for four weeks at a time, and the passion you get for the sport and knowing that it's played worldwide.”
White said the international and cultural aspects of the sport worldwide was a big reason for him to enter the college squash world and teach it to young people through coaching.
His players at Drexel come from 16 countries, spreading across six continents.
Related
“It's something that really drives me forward of promoting the sport at the college level, and bring the different cultures together to play on the same team,” he said.
After coaching at Franklin & Marshall College, White was given the task to reconstruct Drexel’s squash program from scratch.
“I've always wanted to start my own program from the beginning,” White said. “Rebuild it again…that was very intriguing to me.”
The program has grown by leaps and bounds from its infancy 11 years ago. Both the women’s and men’s programs have been ranked in the top 15 at the end of every season since 2014-15.
“What we did at the very, very beginning to where we are now and it's an unbelievable feeling,” he said.
“But we start again March 28. For spring practice, it's a new season, starting again.”
1-on-1 with Matt Leon is a KYW Newsradio original podcast. You can follow the show on Twitter @1on1pod and you can follow Matt @Mattleon1060. Listen to his latest episode below.