from marrion field: Keeping

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Alumni Coach the Next Generation of Cougars

Jonathan Castillo ’06 heads the BasketBall Program

New Head Basketball Coach Jonathan Castillo ’06 grew up in New York City. When asked why he enrolled as a student at Cardigan, his answer is different than most.

“I was held up at gunpoint.”

A seventh grader at the time, young Jonathan Castillo knew then and there that he needed to find a way to pursue school away from the dangers of city streets. He reached out and found help at the Boys’ Club of New York that, among other things, assists local students who want to apply to boarding schools. He tested boarding life as a Cardigan Summer Session student and then enrolled as an eighth grader in the fall of 2004.

“My free spirit grew at Cardigan,” he says. “I thrived in the structure that I did not have back home.” He played football that fall but anxiously awaited the beginning of basketball season. Cardigan’s basketball coach was Nick Creach, a man Coach Castillo credits with changing the direction of his life.

“He taught me so much,” Mr. Castillo explains. “But there is one moment that stands out. Coach took me out of a game, and I gave him some attitude, so he told me to head to the locker room and change back into a coat and tie. To make it worse, it was Family Weekend, and I had just embarrassed myself in front of my mom. But I did what he said—I put my tie back on and cheered my teammates from the bench. That was the moment that changed my life.”

Coach Castillo went on to be a student leader as a ninth grader and received the Skibsky Award—given to the student who demonstrates the most progress during his time at Cardigan—at Commencement. He then attended and played basketball at Timber Creek High School in Orlando, FL, where his family had relocated.

After playing college basketball at Sage College in New York and completing his Bachelor of Science degree in education

this page: Coach Castillo ’06 warming up with the basketball team on the first day of practice for winter sports; facing page: Coach McCusker ’10 working with hockey players in Turner Arena in November

and public affairs at the University of Central Florida, Coach Castillo embarked on a coaching career that would eventually lead him back to The Point. He began as the junior varsity coach at Colonial High School, moved to his alma mater Timber Creek, and then settled with the EYSF Panthers, an AAUprogram based in Orlando. With the Panthers, Coach Castillo’s teams appeared in six consecutive State Final Four appearances and placed fourth in the nation in 2019.

As head coach of the Cougars, Coach Castillo prioritizes skill development, discipline, being kind, and teaching what he calls “life moments” through basketball. “We’re certainly playing some exciting basketball,” he says. “But ultimately, it is more important to create kind, disciplined, goal-driven young men than basketball players. That’s what I learned here.”

cameron mccusker ’10 takes over the hockey program

“It was just so fun,” recalls Cameron “Cam” McCusker ’10 about his season on Cardigan’s Junior Varsity Hockey Team in 2007-08. “We had such a great group of guys—my older brother Brodie ’09, Gavin Bayreuther ’09, a bunch of others—that really came together and we made each other better every day. In retrospect, that JV season was a critical year in my development as a hockey player.”

Coach McCusker had just arrived on The Point as a seventh grader when his father David McCusker ’80 P’08,’10 was appointed Cardigan’s head of school. He moved up to the varsity team for his eighth and ninth-grade seasons under the guidance of Head Coach Robbie Barker’97. Among his favorite memories is an overtime win over Eaglebrook in the last game of his ninth-grade season.

“Gordie Borek ’10 scored late to put us up 4-3, but Eaglebrook scored to tie it at 4 with just a minute left in the game,” Coach McCusker remembers. “In those days we didn’t usually play overtime, and we were not supposed to that day, either, but Coach Barker told us not to leave the bench. We weren’t leaving until we played it out, win or lose. Eaglebrook agreed to play overtime and we eventually won the game. It was incredible!”

After graduating from Cardigan in 2010, Coach McCusker matriculated to St. Paul’s School, where he was a captain for the Big Red as a senior. He played collegiate hockey at Wesleyan University, helping the Cardinals reach the NESCAC semifinals in 2017 and 2018.

For the 2021–22 season, Coach McCusker is thrilled to have multiple experienced coaches working with him, and he sees an opportunity to start a new chapter for all the teams, one that prioritizes culture and character and builds leaders as much as it develops skills. “Helping young men reach their potential both on and off the ice is the goal,” he says. “To do that, the coaching staff will do the same things Coach Barker did when I was a player. We will build culture throughout our program—in the locker room and on the ice—by being disciplined and competitive, but also compassionate and empathetic. If you show genuine care for your players, they will excel; and in turn, they will show that same care to their teammates, and the team will excel.”

Coach McCusker’s plan seem to be working; in December the Varsity Hockey Team won the 2021 Belmont Hill Freshman Invitational, finishing with a 3-2 victory in overtime against Belmont Hill School. Their overall record in mid-January stood at 12-2. r