WVU football defensive assistant hired for Division 2 head coach opening

WVU football will be losing a piece of their defensive staff to his first-ever head coaching opportunity.

In-state Division 2 program Glenville State announced on Monday morning that they would be hiring West Virginia defensive assistant Jake Casteel to fill their head coach opening. Casteel has spent the past season on Rich Rodriguez’s staff with the Mountaineers, following him from Jacksonville State where he was a defensive analyst and a SAMs coach.

"We are excited to welcome Coach Casteel into our Pioneer Family," Glenville State Athletic Director Jesse Skiles said. "He is a talented young coach who has worked on some strong coaching staffs and has also proven to be an aggressive recruiter."

"It's an honor to be named the head coach at Glenville State. I am excited to build on the tradition of this program and make the university, community and alumni proud to be Pioneers," said Casteel.

Before coaching under Rodriguez, Casteel served stints at Cal Poly, West Virginia (under Neal Brown), and Boise State. During his collegiate career, Casteel starred at Northern Arizona as a linebacker from 2014-2018, leading the Lumberjacks to an FCS playoff appearance in 2017 and tallying 250 career tackles, including a team-leading 90 tackles during his senior season in 2018. 

He is also the son of current WVU bandits coach and long-time Rodriguez assistant coach Jeff Casteel, who served as defensive coordinator for the Mountaineers under Rodriguez, Bill Stewart, and Dana Holgorsen from 2002-2011, and served as a defensive analyst under Neal Brown.

Casteel’s move to Glenville establishes a pipeline between a Rodriguez-led WVU program and the Division 2 program which makes sense, as Rodriguez himself was head coach for the Pioneers for seven years from 1990-1996, leading the program to two NAIA playoff appearances and four West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships.