Before the ink had even dried on Rich Rodriguez‘s Arizona contract, the speculation commenced: Jeff Casteel would be leaving his defensive coordinator job at West Virginia and reuniting with his former boss in Tucson.
Reportedly, those rumors are about to become a reality.
In the midst of multiple reports that have surfaced since WVU’s evisceration of Clemson in the Orange Bowl Wednesday night, the Arizona Daily Star writes that "[s]ometime in the next 48 hours, the UA is expected to announce that it’s hired West Virginia’s Jeff Casteel as its new defensive coordinator.” The Daily Star adds that Casteel is expected to bring at least one current but one unnamed WVU assistant with him.
Casteel was a member of Rodriguez’s first WVU coaching staff in 2001, but did not follow the coach when he left for Michigan.
As for a replacement for Casteel, a source close to the WVU program has informed CFT that former Miami Hurricanes head coach Randy Shannon is the top target of the Mountaineers if/when Casteel leaves. A source familiar with Shannon’s situation would only state that there’s a lot of interest in Shannon at the moment.
In addition to WVU, Shannon has been connected to coordinator jobs at Auburn and Tennessee.