Petar Draksin continues his storied Grand Canyon University coaching career as he now enters his second season as GCU Club Men’s Soccer Head Coach after volunteering with the program as an assistant the previous two years. Draksin – or ‘Drak’ as he is known around GCU circles – has been one of the more recognizable faces around the GCU campus over the past three decades-plus, whether it’s wearing a coaching shirt on the soccer pitch or wearing a badge as a member of GCU Public Safety.
Draksin first arrived on the GCU campus in 1986, serving as an assistant coach for the Lopes’ NAIA Men’s Soccer squad. After helping lead the Lopes to an NAIA District title and an NCAA National Tournament appearance, Draksin ascended to the head job in 1993. For the next 22 years, Drak’s teams were among GCU’s campus elite, winning five Pacific West Conference titles in just a seven-year span; four California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament berths; and a pair of NCAA Division II National Tournament appearances. Draksin’s top shining moment came in 1996, when his Lopes stormed their way to the NCAA Division II National Championship, knocking off Oakland University (MI) in the title match to earn the championship trophy.
That was far from the only ‘first’ the Lopes enjoyed under his tenure, since Drak helped spearhead the Lopes’ move to the Division I level, Coaching them in their first two DI seasons, and manning the sidelines when the Lopes hosted Arizona’s first-ever Division I men’s soccer match in 2013. Along the way, Draksin’s 15 winning seasons and seven NCAA National Tournament appearances garnered him five PacWest Coach of the Year awards, as well as both the Far West and NSCAA/Umbro NCAA DII Coach of the Year awards in 1996.
‘Drak’ has also spent nearly 40 years coaching both boys’ and girls’ teams in the Arizona Youth Soccer League, and spent 2019 as an assistant coach on the community college level for the vaunted Yavapai Roughriders’ Men’s Soccer program in Prescott. He also spent eight years on the high school level, leading Glendale’s Apollo High School to Arizona Class 5A State playoff appearances each year, winning it all in 1993. Finally, Draksin spent several years as head coach of the Arizona Sahuaros’ premiere developmental soccer team, leading them to their first-ever winning season, and eventually the Men’s Premier Soccer League title.
A native of Vladimirovac Banat, Serbia (then Yugoslavia), Draksin moved to the United States while in high school and as a player, eventually ascended to pro soccer for five years before beginning his coaching career.
