Drew McCarthy has served as the head coach of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy men's soccer team since the 2018 season. In his first year on the job he led the team to the Conference Championship game and has made the Conference Tournament in every season. The Mariners finally captured the 2022 Skyline Conference Championship at home. McCarthy has coached 11 All-Conference Players and two Defensive Players of the Year since taking the helm. He was also named the Academy's Coach Omeltchenko Coach of the Year following the 2022-23 seasons.

McCarthy is no stranger to coaching at the Division III level and, in particular, in the Skyline Conference. He served as the head coach at SUNY Maritime College for six seasons (2003-04 and 2009-12), with an additional two-year stint as the Privateers' assistant coach in between those two tenures (2007-08).

In the 2010 season, McCarthy guided the team to its first ever regular season championship and then captured its first ever Skyline Conference Championship, gaining the school’s first ever NCAA Division III Tournament appearance in any sport. As a result, McCarthy was named as the Skyline Conference Coach of the Year.

The 2011 season marked the best soccer season in the college’s history. The team repeated as Skyline Conference Champions, gaining their second straight automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. 14 wins in a season surpassed the previous college record of 13 wins accomplished in 2010.

Coach McCarthy graduated SUNY Maritime College in 1996 with a B.S. in Marine Transportation and a Third Mates License. While at Maritime McCarthy was a four-year starter on both the soccer and basketball teams. Earning All-Conference honors in each sport, in each of his four years. He was named, in both sports, the Most Valuable Player in his senior year and led the soccer team to the Conference Title in 1995. He was also named the Maritime College Most Outstanding Athlete for the 1995-1996 academic year.    

After graduating from Maritime College McCarthy was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy and served on active duty from 1996 to 2000. He was a surface warfare officer and served on combatant ships as the Combat Information Center Officer and Operations Officer. After being released from active duty, McCarthy sailed for a year and a half as a third mate on a break bulk ship for the Overseas Shipholding Group. He returned to his alma mater in 2002 and worked there for 10 years before leaving for USMMA in 2012. McCarthy earned a master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from Stony Brook University in 2018.

McCarthy currently serves as USMMA's Deputy Commandant of Midshipmen; a role he was promoted to in 2017. He lives at the Academy with his wife Elizabeth and their three children Jack, Quinn and Megan.