Unknown and Happy
October 20, 2010 10:09 AM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Jeff Casteel has been around the game long enough to know that last week’s heroes can turn into this week’s goats. That’s why he doesn’t get too wrapped up in all those gaudy stats his West Virginia defense has produced through the first six games of the season.
Scoring defense? The Mountaineers are tied for third in the country with Boise State giving up just 12.3 points per game.
Rushing defense? West Virginia is fourth this week behind Boise State, Texas A&M and Kent State.
Total defense? WVU is now fifth surrendering just 245.8 yards per game.
Third-down defense? Only TCU has been better than West Virginia, the Mountaineers allowing opposing teams to convert just 23.2 percent of their third-down tries.
Jeff Casteel? He ranks 120th in the country among defensive coordinators worried about all of the above.
“This is a win-lose business and that’s the only thing you can really concern yourself with,” he says.
Jeff Casteel’s name doesn’t carry the same panache around the country as, say, Bud Foster, John Chavis or Will Muschamp. And that’s just fine with the Paden City, W.Va., native.
“I don’t really concern myself with all that,” he said Tuesday evening. “That’s what people chose to end up writing about. I just try to hopefully do a good job and that’s the best you can do. I don’t worry about whether my name is in the papers.”
Whether over-promoted or underpublicized, all good football coaches have one thing in common (the gurus included): great football players.
“This game is about players,” Casteel said. “You’re going to be a good coach if you have good players. That’s really the bottom line and I learned that a long time ago.”
Casteel will be the first to admit that it’s been a team effort ever since he became West Virginia’s fulltime defensive coordinator in 2003 - from the three other guys in the defensive room to the players that earn their way onto the playing field. And as long as he’s calling defenses at West Virginia, it will continue to remain that way.
“He’s never been an ‘I’ guy,” said defensive backs coach and former defensive coordinator David Lockwood. “It’s not just all on him, we all do it together.”
Lockwood believes the cooperation and camaraderie Casteel fosters amongst his defensive coaches makes for a great working environment.
“We all get along great,” said Lockwood. “There are no egos and Coach Casteel does a great job with that. He considers everybody’s input and he puts it all together and he calls it. Here we are in our third year together and it’s fun.”
“Lock and I are the babies on this staff and we’re 25-26 years into this,” added Casteel. “Not only during games, but during the week, having guys like Steve (Dunlap) and Kirlav (Bill Kirelawich) … it’s been a great help and everybody has their input.”
There are times when the defensive coaches are so in-tuned with each other that a simple nod, glance or frown is all they need to communicate what’s on their minds.
“Sometimes Jeff and I won’t talk but we’ll look at each other and say, ‘Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,’” said Lockwood. “It does feel good when you have four guys that are all on the same page and thinking alike. The kids see that and ultimately it always comes down to the kids.”
The kids … Castel operates West Virginia’s unusual 3-3 stack defense in large part to get those good kids that were either overlooked by other schools or didn’t quite fit what others were doing defensively.
“The reason we went to it initially was being able to get some kids that were tweeners that we could make into a second-level player and play with some speed,” he explained. “It gave us an opportunity to gain a window in recruiting because other people are passing on them because maybe a kid is not quite big enough or what not, and we were able to get by with a lot of safety types where some of them grew into linebackers.”
Devising unique schemes for recruiting is nothing new. In the 1970s, the veer offense rescued teams such as West Virginia that had great difficulty recruiting linemen because the veer didn’t require those massive, physical players to play in it.
Today, take a close look at the defensive players Casteel puts on the field at West Virginia. There are no Ndamukong Suh’s running around out there. The vast majority of them are self-made players.
“They come in and work hard and make themselves into good players,” said Casteel.
At the same time, Casteel thinks the unorthodox part of his defense is frequently overplayed when others begin describing it.
“We’re a three-down (linemen) team,” he explained. “There are a lot of teams in the NFL with three-down schemes and I think it gets overworked a little bit. It’s an odd front, but it’s not much different than the 3-4. We get in and out of a lot of things, but you have to have guys up front that are unselfish and we’ve been blessed to have some really good players over the years.
“In any scheme, it’s going to start with your guys up front and we happen to have some pretty solid guys up there that have been playing for a while.”
Casteel has now had eight years to recruit players for this system and it is really beginning to show.
“It’s always a struggle but we’re happy where we’re at right now,” Casteel said. “We’ve still got a ways to go to be what we want to be, but the thing that our kids have been able to do is get a little bit better every week. I know that’s the old cliché but that’s really all you’re looking for – be consistent and get a little better.”
Consistency and self-improvement have always been the hallmark of Casteel’s defenses all the way back to his days at Shepherd College. To those who know him best, Jeff Casteel has always practiced what he’s preached. He doesn’t take himself too seriously or possess an overinflated opinion of himself. He would just as soon be in his office watching video tape until his eyes are burning red or sitting on top his green John Deere lawnmower on a sunny summer afternoon with an unlit cigar in his mouth watching his children play in the backyard.
As for the self-promoting? He’ll leave that to the guys with the agents.
“He’s a behind-the-scenes guy,” said Lockwood. “He doesn’t want all that hoopla and I think it was my wife who heard it on TV, ‘He’s the best-kept secret (in college football).’ There is no doubt he’s one of the top coordinators in the country.”
“Jeff doesn’t have an agent – I don’t have an agent – we’re not self-promoters, we just like to coach football,” said Casteel’s boss, Bill Stewart, raised five miles up the Ohio River from Jeff in New Martinsville. “He does a great job and it’s a shame more coaches in the country aren’t like Jeff Casteel.
“I just hope he stays under the radar screen so people can leave him be and he can stay here forever,” Stewart added.
Scoring defense? The Mountaineers are tied for third in the country with Boise State giving up just 12.3 points per game.
Rushing defense? West Virginia is fourth this week behind Boise State, Texas A&M and Kent State.
Total defense? WVU is now fifth surrendering just 245.8 yards per game.
Third-down defense? Only TCU has been better than West Virginia, the Mountaineers allowing opposing teams to convert just 23.2 percent of their third-down tries.
Jeff Casteel? He ranks 120th in the country among defensive coordinators worried about all of the above.
“This is a win-lose business and that’s the only thing you can really concern yourself with,” he says.
Jeff Casteel’s name doesn’t carry the same panache around the country as, say, Bud Foster, John Chavis or Will Muschamp. And that’s just fine with the Paden City, W.Va., native.
“I don’t really concern myself with all that,” he said Tuesday evening. “That’s what people chose to end up writing about. I just try to hopefully do a good job and that’s the best you can do. I don’t worry about whether my name is in the papers.”
Whether over-promoted or underpublicized, all good football coaches have one thing in common (the gurus included): great football players.
“This game is about players,” Casteel said. “You’re going to be a good coach if you have good players. That’s really the bottom line and I learned that a long time ago.”
Casteel will be the first to admit that it’s been a team effort ever since he became West Virginia’s fulltime defensive coordinator in 2003 - from the three other guys in the defensive room to the players that earn their way onto the playing field. And as long as he’s calling defenses at West Virginia, it will continue to remain that way.
“He’s never been an ‘I’ guy,” said defensive backs coach and former defensive coordinator David Lockwood. “It’s not just all on him, we all do it together.”
Lockwood believes the cooperation and camaraderie Casteel fosters amongst his defensive coaches makes for a great working environment.
“We all get along great,” said Lockwood. “There are no egos and Coach Casteel does a great job with that. He considers everybody’s input and he puts it all together and he calls it. Here we are in our third year together and it’s fun.”
“Lock and I are the babies on this staff and we’re 25-26 years into this,” added Casteel. “Not only during games, but during the week, having guys like Steve (Dunlap) and Kirlav (Bill Kirelawich) … it’s been a great help and everybody has their input.”
There are times when the defensive coaches are so in-tuned with each other that a simple nod, glance or frown is all they need to communicate what’s on their minds.
“Sometimes Jeff and I won’t talk but we’ll look at each other and say, ‘Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,’” said Lockwood. “It does feel good when you have four guys that are all on the same page and thinking alike. The kids see that and ultimately it always comes down to the kids.”
The kids … Castel operates West Virginia’s unusual 3-3 stack defense in large part to get those good kids that were either overlooked by other schools or didn’t quite fit what others were doing defensively.
“The reason we went to it initially was being able to get some kids that were tweeners that we could make into a second-level player and play with some speed,” he explained. “It gave us an opportunity to gain a window in recruiting because other people are passing on them because maybe a kid is not quite big enough or what not, and we were able to get by with a lot of safety types where some of them grew into linebackers.”
Devising unique schemes for recruiting is nothing new. In the 1970s, the veer offense rescued teams such as West Virginia that had great difficulty recruiting linemen because the veer didn’t require those massive, physical players to play in it.
Today, take a close look at the defensive players Casteel puts on the field at West Virginia. There are no Ndamukong Suh’s running around out there. The vast majority of them are self-made players.
“They come in and work hard and make themselves into good players,” said Casteel.
At the same time, Casteel thinks the unorthodox part of his defense is frequently overplayed when others begin describing it.
“We’re a three-down (linemen) team,” he explained. “There are a lot of teams in the NFL with three-down schemes and I think it gets overworked a little bit. It’s an odd front, but it’s not much different than the 3-4. We get in and out of a lot of things, but you have to have guys up front that are unselfish and we’ve been blessed to have some really good players over the years.
“In any scheme, it’s going to start with your guys up front and we happen to have some pretty solid guys up there that have been playing for a while.”
Casteel has now had eight years to recruit players for this system and it is really beginning to show.
“It’s always a struggle but we’re happy where we’re at right now,” Casteel said. “We’ve still got a ways to go to be what we want to be, but the thing that our kids have been able to do is get a little bit better every week. I know that’s the old cliché but that’s really all you’re looking for – be consistent and get a little better.”
Consistency and self-improvement have always been the hallmark of Casteel’s defenses all the way back to his days at Shepherd College. To those who know him best, Jeff Casteel has always practiced what he’s preached. He doesn’t take himself too seriously or possess an overinflated opinion of himself. He would just as soon be in his office watching video tape until his eyes are burning red or sitting on top his green John Deere lawnmower on a sunny summer afternoon with an unlit cigar in his mouth watching his children play in the backyard.
As for the self-promoting? He’ll leave that to the guys with the agents.
“He’s a behind-the-scenes guy,” said Lockwood. “He doesn’t want all that hoopla and I think it was my wife who heard it on TV, ‘He’s the best-kept secret (in college football).’ There is no doubt he’s one of the top coordinators in the country.”
“Jeff doesn’t have an agent – I don’t have an agent – we’re not self-promoters, we just like to coach football,” said Casteel’s boss, Bill Stewart, raised five miles up the Ohio River from Jeff in New Martinsville. “He does a great job and it’s a shame more coaches in the country aren’t like Jeff Casteel.
“I just hope he stays under the radar screen so people can leave him be and he can stay here forever,” Stewart added.
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