Coaches Leave But Why Not Casteel?

Rick Trickett has left to coach the Florida State offensive line instead of the WVU defensive line. Herb Hand decided he would rather be offensive coordinator at Tulsa than continue being WVU's tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator. Wide receiver coach Butch Jones is now head coach at Central Michigan University. All losses that Rich Rodriguez probably never anticipated but not losses that the football program can't overcome.

However, there is one problem out there that needs to be addressed and that's the WVU defense and defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel. Let me say this first: I don't necessarily want Casteel to be fired. If he were hired away, I would be pleased but I don't think anyone would take him. But if he stays, I believe we need to have a change in defensive philosophy.

The 3-3-5 defense is an "odd" defense in college football today. For those not in the know, the 3-3-5 refers to 3 down linemen, 3 linebackers, and 5 defensive backs. What makes the 3-3-5 difficult is that the offensive line is supposed to have a difficult time telling who will rush the line on any given play. Unfortunately, the 3-3-5 didn't confuse offenses in the least this year. And the blitzing schemes became predictable and stale so quarterbacks could pick apart the weak secondary. And instead of increasing the blizters and trying to bring pressure, Casteel elected to drop the 3 linebackers into coverage many times which left 3 rushers and 8 men in coverage. But, for some reason, WVU still could not defend in the secondary.

I'm not saying Casteel did anything wrong really...but there's something amiss with WVU's 3-3-5 scheme. The 5 defensive backs lack size and speed...the only way to make up for their inabilities is to force the quarterback into making bad decisions by getting a good pass rush but only bringing 3 down linemen made that virtually impossible. The 3 linebackers usually played at home for rushes and short passes.

The other, more glaring, problem with the WVU defense was lack of fundamentals. Bad tackling plagued the Mountaineers many times this year. Once again, lack of size and speed proved deadly. Can I pin that on Casteel? Probably so. It's his job to make sure the players are ready to play and can perform at a high level and, many times, they did not.

I'm not saying scrap the whole system but some changes must be made. If we're going to stick with the 3-3-5, there has to be some improvements made in the secondary. I believe we have some very promising defensive back recruits that could make a huge difference. And we have to be willing to bring more pressure. Dropping 8 men into coverage should never be the answer to our secondary problems. We have to pressure the quarterback by bringing different blitz packages. Free safety blitz, middle lineback blitz, etc. on every play. If we can't pressure the quarterback, secondary weaknesses will continue to be exposed.

Simply relieving Casteel of his duties won't make those things happen. WVU needs to recommit themselves to building a strong defense. Nehlen's defenses were always tough. There's no reason WVU's defense can't be tough again. Without addressing those flaws, WVU will never compete for a national championship no matter how awesome the offense may be.