Casteel helped shape Norfolk State assistant

MORGANTOWN - In each of the past two seasons, Norfolk State defensive coordinator Mark DeBastiani has led a group that finished No. 6 among Football Championship Subdivision teams in total defense.

Some of his success is traced back to 1988 when he was a freshman offensive lineman at Shepherd and in awe of an impressive and intimidating assistant coach.

"Outside of my father and mother, he was one of the most influential people in my life as a young adult," said DeBastiani, who is in his seventh season with the Spartans. "You see a guy like that making a difference in guys' lives and making them better people and better football players, you understand that's the reward in this profession."

DeBastiani will get reacquainted with one of his role models in Saturday's 1 p.m. game at Mountaineer Field against No. 19 West Virginia and defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel.

"From the day he stepped on campus at Shepherd, I knew he was going to be successful, and he was very successful there," DeBastiani said of Casteel, who also arrived in 1988 and spent 12 seasons with the Rams as an assistant coach and eventually the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach.

"It wasn't just Xs and Os. I played offense and he commanded the respect of the players.

"He was the defensive line coach, but also the strength coach, so he really had a thumbprint on the team probably as much as anybody, it not more than anybody, because he got to see all of us and got to know all of us in the weight room."

DeBastiani, a native of Arthurdale (Preston County), earned three letters with Shepherd and started two seasons at center. The Rams won the 1991 and 1992 West Virginia Conference championships and advanced to the NAIA national quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.

He graduated in 1993 and then coached the offensive and defensive line. In 1994, he helped the Rams to another conference title.

He's since worked at Appalachian State and Bethune-Cookman and finally got the coordinator's position with the Spartans (1-0). DeBastiani uses a 3-4 alignment, one of a handful of ways he's tried through the years to emulate Casteel, who plays a 3-3-5 stack.

"You'd see his car there at 5 a.m. and then at 9 o'clock at night, so you knew he put in the work," DeBastiani said. "The one thing I remember is everything he did he did with intensity.

"When I played for Coach Casteel, he did everything with doted I's and crossed T's and attention to detail and high intensity. That's what kind of coach he was and still is. He demanded it. He demanded your best and you felt slighted if you didn't give it to him."

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• THE SPARTANS' staff has another WVU connection in addition to DeBastiani and Coach Pete Adrian, who was a lineman and linebacker with the Mountaineers in the late 1960s.
  NSU defensive line coach Mark Thurston played linebacker at WVU in the late 1990s and earned letters for Coach Don Nehlen's teams in 1997-99.