Casteel is probably not a realistic option.
Casteel was already offered the Michigan DC job and passed on it. Why would he leave now?
Bill Stewart may be on the "hot seat", but he has not been fired. WVU is 5-3 with all the losses coming by 1 score, including @LSU. It is very premature to assume he's gone.
Even if Stewart is fired, the most likely replacement would be... Casteel. He has roots in the area and is a very successful coordinator. Why would WVU rid itself of the best asset they have? Casteel has been entrenched as a coordinator for years and might feel comfortable promoting one of his positional coaches to DC and moving up.
Consider the alternative. WVU isn't that attractive to many head coaching candidates. While some ambitious up-and-comer might take the job as a stepping stone, that scenario brings its own problem. WVU seems to have a unique sort of culture that not every outsider is going to "get". Hiring from within is probably their best option.
I'm no expert on WVU football, so let me know if the above depiction is wrong. Casteel seems like wishful thinking to me (assuming you like the guy, which I realize many do not.)
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:23 PM ^
This should have gone in the other Casteel thread or even Brian's post.
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:39 PM ^
Fair enough. It seemed like enough of a tangent off of those topics to be worth a seperate discussion.
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:27 PM ^
GOD DAMNIT!
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:59 PM ^
is it national all caps day?
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:36 PM ^
The thinking is that they might not hire Casteel in order to get someone from outside of RR's coaching tree. They may be looking for new blood in the program.
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:38 PM ^
but I think we need to find an angry aggressive DC bordering on nutjob like Muschamp at Texas. We need the aggressive spirit that wants to "kill" the opposition. I don't know where this guy is or if we found him that he wants to take on this situation, but look what a bull-headed no non-sense guy like Bo Pellini has done at Nebraska. We need a DC that will come in here and tell RR he has a plan an will execute it, not run what RR wants. That also means he gets to hire his own assistants.
If RR insists on picking the assistants and the scheme, this will be no different than the Oakland Raiders run by Al Davis where he hires the HC and also decides what assistants the HC gets. That is a recipe for disaster.
Hire the right DC and let him do his job.
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:40 PM ^
casteel was passed over for the job when stewart got it. seems unlikely that he'd get it now.
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:44 PM ^
I really don't think Casteel is likely, for exactly the reasons laid out by the OP. So...do any other DCs with established track records know or run the 3-3-5?
A brief bit of unverified googling brings this up:
San Diego State DC Rocky Long (the inventor...?)
UTEP DC Osia Lewis
Wake Forest DC Brad Lambert
Florida DC Teryl Austin (sort of, he's a multiple guy)
Marshall DC Chris Rippon (maybe?)
Louisiana-Monroe DC Troy Reffett
...and I'm tired of googling.
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:53 PM ^
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-3-5_defense
Boise and TCU.
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:45 PM ^
4-2-5
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:54 PM ^
That's basically the 3-3-5 except Roh has his hand down, right?
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:38 PM ^
"That's basically the 3-3-5 except Roh has his hand down, right?"
Where it belongs!
November 3rd, 2010 at 3:28 PM ^
the 4-2-5 the way TCU plays it means playing fairly different pattern read stuff in the secondary compared to the one-high looks that Saban made famous. the focus is less on creating mayhem with fronts than with mayhem in the secondary that, i think, screws with the normal reads a QB makes with typical pattern reading.
November 3rd, 2010 at 3:32 PM ^
Thanks for the explanation, but I was joking.
November 3rd, 2010 at 3:52 PM ^
peup.
November 2nd, 2010 at 7:43 PM ^
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:44 PM ^
Wouldn't WVU want to go for a guy with some head coaching experience. Winning coaching experience that is (looking at you Stew).
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:53 PM ^
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:55 PM ^
With the buyout cash from Michigan, good luck finding RR anywhere outside of a TV studio during the fall.
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:06 PM ^
He's going to be on Price is Right?
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:14 PM ^
no... Jersey Shore
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:09 PM ^
WVU may have lost 3 games by 1 score, but look at who they lost to, and lost to in the Big East, no less. They were also lucky to beat Marshall (Marshall!!!) because they melted down in the last 6 minutes.
If Stewart is fired, Casteel may not be the #1 choice. What happened the last time they promoted from within? If you bring in a new outside coach, he may choose to sweep the house clean. Maybe he doesn't want to run a 3-3-5, maybe the new HC is defensively focused. Who knows?
Lastly, WVU isn't a top 10 job, but is certainly within the top 25 or so. They're a good team in a BCS conference. That's more than enough to convince almost any non BCS conference coach to go there. If WVU fires Stewart, its basically the same situation that South Florida was in last season, and they got their pick of coaches outside of BK.
Honestly speaking, I would think Magee has a better shot at becoming WVU's head coach before Casteel does.
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:37 PM ^
They certaintly COULD bring in an external HC, but I don't see "last time we hired from within" as compelling logic. Then again, the WVU AD might not be into compelling logic...
I don't know what about WVU makes it a top 25 job. If WVU is a good team, they're probably not going to can their coach. Seems like circular logic.The only real appeal is that the Big East is a relatively easy conference to go undefeated in and then step stone up from there. WV is, for most outside people, not a desireable place to live and work. There is no firm recruiting base. I'd argue that something like 80% of BCS jobs are more appealing. But yeah, I think many non-BCS head coaches would make the jump. The question is... how successful would they be as an outsider? And how long would they stick around if they were?
MaGee would also seem like a legit candidate (though he can't be popular for leaving town with RR), but even if he's hired you have the same problem -- he probably retains Casteel.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:17 PM ^
I don't know what about WVU makes it a top 25 job. If WVU is a good team, they're probably not going to can their coach. Seems like circular logic.
He obviously didn't mean good right now, as shown by comments about who they lost to. You can be a "good" program, and still be in a down time, see Michigan for instance...
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:41 PM ^
What happened last time is that Stewart coached the bowl game after RR tore the hearts out of the players and fans by bolting for greener pastures. Nobody thought Stewart was gonna keep the HC job, but when they won the program chose continuity in light of the recent events.
I honestly believe and have heard/read that Casteel would have gotten the job had they not won that bowl game. Crazy chain of events...WVU loses to Pitt, Stewart wins a bowl game, and 2 D1 programs have head coaches as a direct result.
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:46 PM ^
we already tried to get him to come under less obviously imperiled circumstances.
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:49 PM ^
Oliver Luck, the father of Stanford's starting QB, and formerly NFL's point man in Europe, is WVU's AD. Unlike Ed Pastilong, the previous AD who fell asleep at the wheel, Oliver Luck won't hire the likes of Bill Stewart. I suspect Casteel is the guy if Stewart is fired. In fact, I would not be surprised if Oliver Luck requests that Casteel be retained should they decide to go another direction.
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:47 PM ^