Dave Greene was working as a swim coach at Merrimack Pool in 1978 when he heard about an open coaching position with the Vikings’ JV boys soccer team. In the 32 years since – the last 16 heading varsity – he’s transformed the program into one of the finest in Maryland and become one of the most respected coaches in the area while amassing four state titles.

Repeatedly, Greene’s impressive record has drawn offers from other schools. Due to his dedication to Whitman’s program and the athletes who are part of it, he turned them all down.

“Specifically, it’s the students – that’s one of the reasons that I continue to go back,” Greene said, adding that each time another school tried to pry him away, “I thought Whitman was the best place to be.”

He also coaches two girls teams for the Bethesda Soccer Club. One of Greene’s teams, the U-15 Bethesda Freedom, is ranked in the top 25 in the country for its age group.

Before his afternoon practices, Greene works his day job as head coach with the Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club. There, too, he gets the best out of his athletics; RMSC is one of the fastest teams in the nation, and many of its alumni go on to swim in college.

But Greene’s first love is soccer. He was a three-year varsity player at Wheaton. After high school, he played four years of competitive soccer at Frostburg State University in western Maryland. Fresh out of college, he played in an open men’s league in Virginia.

“I actually played with a lot of players who graduated from UVA,” Greene said. “it was back when they began being really good under [future Team USA coach] Bruce Arena.”

Greene developed his coaching philosophy based on his playing days. He likes to work individually with players to make them better players.

“He never gives up on his own players or on his team,” midfielder Sebastian Cahe said. “He pays a lot of attention on players’ technical ability over their physical ability.”

Becky Stevens (’07) played under Greene with the Bethesda club for seven years, and remembers that his day-and-night commitment at every outing showed how much he cared about his players.

“He was always extremely supportive of us,” Stevens said. “He was always present, which was huge to everyone. He was the first to arrive and the last to leave. He would be encouraging of any and all players he coached, regardless of skill level.”

Green has honed his popular coaching style over years of experience, and he’s planning to stick around for many more.

“It’s still exciting to me. It’s still fun for me. I don’t see a reason to stop,” he said.