Wildcats nearing defensive coordinator hire
Jan 9, 2012, 7:48 PM | Updated: 7:53 pm
Jeff Casteel could be on his way to Tucson in the
near future.
Speculation is rising that
Jeff Casteel will rejoin Rich Rodriguez at Arizona.
Casteel was Rodriguez’s defensive coordinator at West
Virginia for all seven years of Rich Rod’s tenure with
the Mountaineers.
In 2007 Rodriguez took the head coaching job at Michigan
and it was believed that Casteel was going with him,
but Casteel ended up staying in West Virginia, where he’s
coached the last four seasons.
Without Casteel at Michigan, Rodriguez went through two
defensive coordinators in the three years. It seems that
without Casteel Rodriguez’s defenses are mediocre,
especially in 2010 when Michigan was last in the Big 10 in
scoring defense.
So, it comes as no surprise that the biggest issue with a
Rodriguez-coached team is defense, but hiring Casteel
would go a long way to alleviate those concerns.
Casteel, a native of West Virginia, runs a 3-3-5 defense
that emphasizes speed over size, which may be just what
Arizona needs to contend in the Pac-12.
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