Drexel’s Coletrane Washington grew up with hoops, following in his father’s footsteps

It only made sense that Drexel’s Coletrane Washington became a basketball player, given his upbringing.

From an early age, he was surrounded by the game.

His father, Jesse, would take him to the park, and the two would get up shots and “just mess around on the court.” When Jesse had men’s league games in Philly — at places such as the Keiserman JCC and the Hank Gathers Rec Center — Coletrane would tag along, dribbling on the sidelines while watching.

“Just as a kid, I always saw him with a ball in his hand,” Coletrane said. “ … I always just watched him play, and I think that’s what motivated me. He never really forced it on me. But, as a kid, you want to be like your dad, and he was always hooping.”

Now, Washington is entering his fifth and final season at Drexel. The 6-foot-4 guard is a team captain for the first time and one of the veterans on a team filled with new faces.

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Even though he was around basketball from an early age, Washington said he was a better baseball player during his childhood. A center fielder and pitcher, Washington played up until seventh grade but decided to quit so he could focus more on basketball.

Around that time, Washington and his family moved from Drexel Hill to the Pittsburgh area. Coletrane and Jesse, who played basketball at Yale, would play pickup nearly every day. Jesse always got the best of his son, until one day at the YMCA in nearby Sewickley, a 14-year-old Coletrane finally beat his father, 11-9.

But that didn’t stop Jesse from going head-to-head with his son, even to this day.

“No disrespect to my old man, but he knows he doesn’t stand a chance anymore,” Coletrane said. “But he’ll still play me. He never backs down from any of that stuff.”

Washington is part of a basketball family. In addition to his father, Coletrane’s mother, Alaina James, played basketball in high school, among other sports, and all of Washington’s siblings currently play or have played basketball.

Coletrane starred at Quaker Valley High School, finishing his career with 1,551 points, but Drexel gave him his only Division I offer. He committed before his senior season. Right away, Washington cracked the rotation for Zach Spiker’s squad, and his production increased the following season. But during his third year with the Dragons, he missed the entire season because of a knee injury.

During that junior season, the Dragons won the Colonial Athletic Association tournament and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 25 years.

“Sort of a bittersweet feeling because you want to be out there so bad, but it’s also really nice to see all the guys who’ve been working so hard alongside finally get rewarded,” Washington said. “So it was definitely tough, especially just missing the whole year and then coming back after not playing a whole year. It’s difficult to get your body back in the swing of things. Mentally get back in the swing of things. So I think that was definitely a roadblock that I had to encounter and sort of get around.”

But Washington bounced back with the best season of his college career in 2021-22. The sharpshooter averaged 6.5 points, becoming a starter toward the end of the season, and scored a career-high 21 points against the College of Charleston, shooting 7-of-10 from the field, including 6-of-9 from deep.

Over the course of his career at Drexel, his biggest improvement has come on the defensive side of the ball. Washington said that when he arrived at Drexel, he wasn’t a great defender, but now, just ask his coach.

“Now [he] is a guy that is able to, defensively, take the other team’s best opponent and really kind of try to lock them down,” Spiker said.

This season, Washington is expected to be more of a leader, and in Drexel’s preseason scrimmage against St. Francis (Pa.), Spiker leaned on that leadership.

“I wasn’t thrilled with a couple of things,” Spiker said. “Instead of bringing the group together and voicing my perspective, I just kind of met with him, and he took care of everything.”

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Throughout his time at Drexel, Washington has fought through adversity. But now, he is a captain and will be a key member for the Dragons on the floor.

It’s all a part of his journey.

“Just staying the course,” Washington said. “I think there’s a lot of times where I could have given up on myself. But I think just staying the course and staying persistent and believing in what I can do and how I can help this team.”