By Braydon Downs and John Sarrocco
This piece is a feature written in the fall of 2024 from Braydon Downs with updated reporting included from John Sarrocco.
Surrounded by Marist memorabilia, Dave Scarcello sits at his desk, eyeing film from last season on the monitor. It is fall, lacrosse is not even in season, and yet he reviews the same clips, again and again.
This fall season is different. Not only is his former coach Keegan Wilkinson no longer within the Marist walls, but Scarcello is in charge. No longer a goalie, no longer an assistant or associate head coach. It’s his program now.
Go back nearly a decade, and Scarcello is between the pipes for the Red Foxes, making save after save to keep them ahead. Notching nine in total, reality sets in as the final seconds tick down for Scarcello and the rest of the Red Foxes: They are MAAC champions, earning an NCAA tournament bid for the first time since 2005. Under former Marist men’s lacrosse coach Keegan Wilkinson, Scarcello earned the nod for most outstanding player in the MAAC Tournament.
Four years later, Scarcello is back in Poughkeepsie. This time, he’s the assistant coach for Marist lacrosse, working with his former coach. During his tenure on the Marist coaching staff as an assistant, Scarcello helped Marist earn two more MAAC championships (2019, 2023), adding to his own as a player in 2015.
Wilkinson had been the head coach of Marist lacrosse for 13 years, and it was expected that this tenure would continue. Abruptly, everything changed.
The head coaching job opened to Scarcello after the 2023 season. None of the coaching staff knew of this change and neither did the players. It caught everyone by surprise, as Marist Athletics announced the changing of the guard on July 10 in a press release.
“Having played for Coach Wilkinson when I was a freshman during his first year as head coach, it was tough to consider him not being here at Marist,” said Scarcello. “I think that’s why it did feel so abrupt for everyone.”
While sudden, the move made sense. Wilkinson wanted to spend more time with his family. Despite that, the program received shockwaves and a new challenge. Revitalizing the team culture and program success under a leader.
Marist senior and captain, Ryan Jones, is part of the leadership group left shocked by such a stark transition.
“It was just kind of out of nowhere. Coach Wilkes has been with this program longer than anyone else. He’s the winningest coach. He was great to us,” said Jones.
Jones and the rest of the players had full confidence in their new head coach.
It’s no secret that Scarcello was more than qualified to take over the position for key reasons. His success as a player, his long tenure under the winningest coach in the Marist program history and his appointment to associate head coach in Fall 2023 are telltale signs that Scarcello is ready to become a head coach.
Scarcello attended Bishop Timon St. Jude High School, named Second Team All-Western New York his senior year. Additionally, he was a four-time Monsignor Martin All-Catholic selection. Former Marist men’s lacrosse head coach Scott Nelson recruited the prodigy to Poughkeepsie.
“I vividly remember playing in my first game in the Empire State Games, and getting a call from Coach Nelson right away while I was back in the dorms at Canisius College where the games were being held,” said Scarcello, who later visited the Marist campus that summer, interested in the Red Fox program.
While Long Island and Maryland have always been known as lacrosse hotbeds, the sport has grown across the country. Scarcello believes the sport grew while he was in high school and continues to grow in Buffalo.
Alas, Wilkinson met young Scarcello as the assistant coach for Marist during Scarcello’s recruiting process. Wilkinson then took over as head coach during Scarcello’s freshman year at Marist as the youngest head coach in Division I.
Far from Western New York and past his playing days, Scarcello has a chance to prove that the mentorship he received from Wilkinson, with his personal experience, prepares him for the task.
“I was around Coach Wilkes in my young adult life, more so than anybody else,” said Scarcello. “I was very fortunate to have a very good view of what it takes to be successful at this level and the type of work it takes.”
Scarcello’s approach to the game is different than Wilkinson’s. As the game evolves, coaching style and play style change. Sports are dynamic, and lacrosse is no exception.
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Back to the film. Scarcello is watching a different clip, an opposing attack breaks the line, Marist’s defense falls apart and allows a goal.
Scarcello, similar to the last segment, replays the mistake, over and over again. A slight wince each time the lacrosse ball hits the back of the net. He repeats the process for roughly three minutes until he realizes the mistake. He writes it down in a notepad and moves on.
As a former Marist player, Scarcello has a burning passion for the Red Foxes and a deep connection to the players he coaches.
“Some days it hurts to go out there, it sucks to go out there; and as a coach, all you’re hoping for is that your guys aren’t in that mindset,” said Scarcello.
This is his justification for being in the film room, being analytical and spending hours and hours watching the same four-second clip. He understands the struggle of being a Marist lacrosse player, but also the bliss sparking from a championship win.
“He’s up at all hours of the day, watching film, talking to us, trying to figure out what the next thing is we need to do to get better,” said Jones. “He’s always been very calculated, articulate. He’s not a scream-at-you, get-in-your-face kind of guy, but he’s going to tell you what you need to do to get better.”
He watches another clip, this time with Marist on the attack. Collin Patrick, a sophomore attackman, evades two defenders before sniping a shot to the top right. A smirk comes across his face—it’s subtle, but it’s there.
Patrick was a freshman on the team last season. A main part of Scarcello’s philosophy is to develop his young players into solid players through his guidance and the guidance of his veteran players, like Jones.
Dylan Rocchio, a freshman on the team, is grateful for his coach’s approach to development.
“Coach Scarcello has been great at getting the new guys adjusted to the speed of the game at the college level, and getting us familiar with his system whether it is offensively or defensively,” said Rocchio. “He, as well as the other coaches, see the potential within all of us and constantly has little teaching points and things to work on to help us become our best selves.”
Players hold high praise for Scarcello along with his staff, such as assistant coach JD Colarusso. On the staff with Scarcello for three years, Colarusso is a high-level lacrosse goalie, coming off a season playing for the Premier Lacrosse League team, the New York Atlas.
“Dave was a great player and is also now a great coach. Being on staff with Dave for the last 3 years has shown me each and every day how much he cares about making Marist and the lacrosse program the best it can be,” said Colarusso.
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Though film analysis is important to Scarcello’s coaching scheme, some things are bigger than X’s and O’s, like the No. 34 jersey that Scarcello wore as a player for the Red Foxes, now hanging on the wall in his office.
Scarcello received this number in honor of former Marist lacrosse player Eddie Coombs. Coombs played defensive midfield as a freshman for the Red Foxes in 2010. He was loved by all the members of the team, and regarded for playing the game with more passion and grit than anyone else.
Sadly, in the summer heading into Coombs’ sophomore year, he was a passenger in the car of a drunk driver. The driver crashed into several trees at alarmingly fast speeds, and Coombs was one of two people in the car to lose their lives.
The Marist lacrosse team honors Coombs with an annual fall tournament to honor Eddie and his foundation, The Edward Taylor Coombs Foundation. Perhaps the most honorable transition of all is the presentation of Coombs’s No. 34 to a senior team member who represents the values that Coombs held on the field.
Scarcello received Coombs’s No. 34 jersey for his senior season in 2015. It’s an honor that he will never forget.
“That’s why that jersey and that number are so important because we’re so fortunate to be able to play this game,” said Scarcello. “We’re so fortunate to be able to wear Marist across our chests.”
While recalling the importance of the number, Scarcello looks at his computer monitor and chuckles, the temperature reading in the bottom corner displaying a coincidental 34 degrees.
“That happens more often in my life than anything else, you’re constantly reminded of that number and what Ed’s impact was on this team,” said Scarcello.
Afterwards, Scarcello sits at his desk with a focused look on his face as he goes through another clip. The number 34 jersey remains on the wall, he looks at it for a quick moment, before going back to the screen.
Wilkinson has left Scarcello with big shoes to fill, but his passion for the game ensures promise toward a long and successful career with the Marist Red Foxes.
Edited by Dan Aulbach and Marley Pope
Graphic by Quinn DiFiore; Photo from Marist Athletics
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