Longtime WVU Football Assistant Jeff Casteel to Retire From Coaching

After taking a year off from coaching in 2016, Jeff Casteel got the itch to coach again, landing a job as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Nevada. He spent three years there before returning to West Virginia, where he served as an analyst on Neal Brown's staff.

This past season, Casteel was back in a more hands-on role, leading the bandits group in Zac Alley's defense, alongside his son, Jeff, who is now the head coach at nearby Glenville State.

So, what's next for Jeff? Retirement.

The longtime WVU assistant could always get that itch again and perhaps go be a helping hand at Glenville, but for now, he's hanging up his whistle. So, for those of you wondering about what the addition of Larry Knight meant for the coaching staff, well, here you go. Willie Green will remain as the lead man for the defensive line group, while Knight will work directly with the team's pass rushers, both the bandits and defensive ends, who can get after the quarterback.

Casteel got his start in coaching all the way back in 1984 as a grad assistant at California (PA), where he spent three seasons. He then traveled south to coach the defensive line at Miami Palmetto HS in Florida before returning to the Mountain State, coaching at Shepherd in the late 80's through the 90s.

He landed his first Division I job at UTEP in 2000, just one year before getting the call from Rich Rodriguez to join him in Morgantown. Many of the best seasons in West Virginia football history were with Casteel coordinating the Mountaineer defense. The tremendous three-year run from 2005-07, where the program won 33 games in three years, and then the 10-win season in 2011, which ended with the drubbing of Clemson in the Discover Orange Bowl.

His 3-3-5 defensive scheme was unique in the early 2000s, but has become popular over the last decade or so nationally after coaches saw the success he had running it, helping to slow down spread offenses.

The Paden City, WV native will go down as one of the best assistants in program history.

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