Despite winning nine SUNYAC championships and numerous Coach of the Year awards, Geneseo's track and field head coach Dave Prevosti is still a very humble man.
Prevosti said he credits all of his success to the student-athletes. "I've been fortunate to work with some great individuals," he said.
Originally a three-sport athlete in high school, Prevosti was never even involved with track and field until his sophomore year of college. He was initially recruited to play basketball at Roberts Wesleyan College, but an injury during his senior season of high school ended his hoop aspirations. Prevosti said he then became interested in track after he watched an indoor track meet his freshman year of college. "[Doing indoor track] helped me to be healthy and to do well," Prevosti said. "It really gave me perspective on things."
After graduation, Prevosti spent time as an assistant track and field coach at Roberts Wesleyan while attending graduate school at SUNY Brockport. He said he always admired coaching because his father was a basketball coach and that he was his inspiration. It was during this time he worked as an intern under Geneseo athletic director Marilyn Moore and was offered an assistant coaching position with the track and field team by then-head coach Mike Woods.
Prevosti said he initally turned down the offer because he "wanted a program of his own." Later he was turned down for the head coaching position at Roberts Wesleyan because he did not have prior head coaching experience. Prevosti, however, said he was eventually convinced to take the assistant job at Geneseo by his coach at Roberts Wesleyan and pastor Dave George. After Prevosti spent three years as an assistant for the Knights, Woods stepped down and let him take over the program.
"I thought it was a humble move on his part to step down," Prevosti said. He commented that initially he found it strange having "a legend," like Woods as his assistant but added that they have a great working relationship.
Prevosti, who competed in sprints and long jump in college, said coaching athletes like senior Pat Gallagher and sophomore Wenley Louis is "tough because these people are more talented than I ever was. I would have been in trouble if I had to compete against these guys." He did, however, note that his experience in those events gives him some credibility.
When asked about his coaching style, Prevosti described himself as someone who "can help people dig a little deeper," and that he believes the recipe for success is a combination of work ethic and talent. He was recently named the 2010 SUNYAC men's indoor track Coach of the Year and the NCAA Division III Atlantic Region Coach of the Year.
Prevosti, who has an admitted dislike to coaching awards, said he believes that such awards should be called "coaching staff of the year" awards. He always says it's the seniors' team and he refuses to even appear in championship pictures saying he "doesn't want to be prideful." He said he was "nervous" about receiving Atlantic Region Coach of the Year because he "will have to get up and speak."
"I've really grown to love Geneseo," Prevosti added. He went on to say that he has a deep loyalty to the school after he received his internship and first head coaching position. Prevosti said that he does not know what the future holds for him, but that he is "very comfortable in the present.