Rich Rodriguez wasn’t in the spotlight early in his career. Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

RELATED: When they played the game: The All-Pac-12 Coaches team

Ah, the good ol’ days. Rich Rodriguez remembers those. Becoming the head coach at Salem University at 24 years old. Taking over at Glenville State two years later, in 1990.

The small college days.

These days, as the first-year head coach at Arizona — and as a guy who has won Big East titles and breathed the air at Michigan — Rodriguez is accustomed to coaching luxury. Assistants to the assistants to the assistants. Yes sir, Coach. Whatever you need, Coach.

Back then, he was just a one-man band making his way in the backwaters of the coaching world.

“My wife lined off the field when I was at Glenville. She was eight months pregnant,” Rodriguez said.

“I made her stop because I was afraid it was going to screw up the child with those fumes from the paint. I said, ‘Honey, I don’t think that’s really good for ol’ junior there.’”

Rodriguez’s background is a microcosm of the Arizona coaching staff, most of whom have long, loyal ties to Rodriguez.

This is a coaching staff with humble beginnings.

Seven of the 10 UA coaches played college ball at lower-division schools. Liberty. Salem. California (Pa.). Rodriguez was a walk-on at West Virginia, eventually working his way into the starting lineup.

Only one UA coach, co-offensive coordinator Calvin Magee, played in the NFL, doing so as a tight end for Tampa Bay from 1985 to 1988.

Six of the 10 started their coaching careers in high school. Only offensive line coach Robert Anae began his career on the major college level, doing so with Dick Tomey at Hawaii, although Anae later spent time working the trenches in junior college.

(By comparison, only one of the 10 coaches on last season’s Arizona coaching staff played small college football, and just two coached in high school.)

Having these bios with unprivileged beginnings is exactly how Rodriguez likes it.

“I don’t know if I would hire a guy if he hadn’t coached at the high school or small college level,” Rodriguez said.

“When they go to a big school, all you do at a big school is get spoiled. If you’re in a small college or high school, you have lined off the field, you were the equipment guy, you were the only manager. Now I have managers for every position, trainers all over the field, people washing clothes, people painting.

“Sometimes, I don’t know where they all come from.”

There is something to be said, UA coaches say, about the collective personality that arises from having worked their way up from the bottom. It’s no wonder Rodriguez and his assistant have forever preached about having a “hard edge” — an everyday intensity and toughness when nothing is given to you.

And with that should come the attitude of gratitude.

“For me, I’m living the dream every day getting to coach Division I elite athletes in a conference like the Pac-12,” said receivers coach Tony Dews. “It’s a dream. I’m humbled every day that I get out of bed and have this opportunity.”

Here is a look at Arizona’s coaching staff:

Coach Rich Rodriguez and new defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel meet with the media Friday.

Stability is nice. Change is good.

Jeff Casteel chose the latter when deciding to leave West Virginia after 11 years as a football assistant — the last nine as defensive coordinator — and reuniting with head coach Rich Rodriguez.

“I thought it was time for another challenge,” Casteel said Friday at his introductory press conference with the Arizona Wildcats.

“It was tough, no doubt, because of my family and it’s where I have been the majority of my life. Again, it’s about change. And you need to branch out a little bit. I thought this was the right opportunity to do it.”

Casteel, a West Virginia native, saw Tucson for the first time on Thursday. With the sunny late-morning weather in the low 60s, Casteel, wearing a new blue Arizona golf shirt, joked that, “People here think this is cold.”

But the move wasn’t about the weather. It wasn’t about the money, either.

He was paid $400,000 by West Virginia last season. He would have earned $450,000 in 2012 and $575,000 in 2013, including a retention bonus.

Casteel is actually taking a pay cut. He will make $425,000 with Arizona next season, athletic director Greg Byrne said.

“I thought the opportunity to leave West Virginia, this was the right time to do it and embark on another challenge,” he said. “I see working at the University of Arizona and in this league as another challenge.”

Casteel, who was part of Rodriguez’s first staff at West Virginia in 2001, didn’t leave with the bulk of the Mountaineers staff when it went to Michigan in 2008.

Casteel stayed for head coach Bill Stewart and received a multi-year deal. Stewart was then let go in a tumultuous last offseason, and Dana Holgorsen took over as head coach.

“Things had changed a little bit,” Casteel said.

Rodriguez said he had a Plan B and a Plan C, but Casteel was always his first choice as defensive coordinator at Arizona.

The hiring process dragged, though, as Casteel wanted to focus on West Virginia’s appearance against Clemson in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3. He said he talked with his family last weekend — his wife and her family are from the Morgantown area as well — and decided to take the Arizona job.

Casteel, 49, said he talked with his players early this week about his move.

“I think anytime you leave a program … it’s tough with the kids, the players. You get close to them,” Casteel said. “It’s always about change. Those things happen in life.”

Perhaps this change will help Casteel become a head coach — something he would like to pursue. He can help himself by using his unusual 3-3-5 defense to conquer a new conference, a new part of the country.

Casteel, who will coach linebackers, brought with him two assistants from West Virginia — defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich and secondary coach David Lockwood. Tony Gibson, who also will help coach the secondary, was with Casteel at West Virginia years earlier.

Basically, it’s a defensive staff that offensively-minded Rodriguez can trust completely.

“I don’t mess too much with the defense,” he said.

“Sometimes I will act like I know what I’m doing over there, but it’s important that I have guys that I can completely turn everything over to. Jeff, I can do that with.”

Related story: Rodriguez and Casteel go way back

Casteel was the defensive coordinator at West Virginia for nine years. Here is a chart of how his defenses ranked nationally, with yards per game and points per game:

Year	Total def.	Rank.	Scoring def.	Rank
2003	391.3	74	22.8	44
2004	339.3	37	20.5	28
2005	310.8	15	17.8	13
2006	336.6	62	21.7	49
2007	301.7	7	18.1	8
2008	328.9	36	17.0	11
2009	336.5	36	21.7	31
2010	261.1	3	13.5	3
2011	348.2	33	26.8	61

Jeff Casteel

New Arizona Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez, having called defensive coordinator the most important position on his coaching staff, finally signed his No. 1 target.

It took longer than he had hoped — Rodriguez said soon after his hiring in late November that he wanted the staff complete by mid-December — but the news release announcing defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel landed Wednesday afternoon.

Arizona also announced the hiring of defensive backs coach David Lockwood, defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich and tight ends coach Spencer Leftwich, completing his nine-man coaching staff.

Casteel will meet with the local media Friday at 11 a.m., with the press conference streamed live on the athletic department’s website.

No contract terms were announced; Casteel had a multi-year deal at West Virginia that would have earned him $575,000 in 2013, but Arizona cannot offer assistant coaches multi-year contacts, athletic director Greg Byrne said.

Casteel, 49, will bring his unusual 3-3-5 stack defense to Arizona; he has had success with the scheme in nine seasons as the Mountaineers’ defensive coordinator, with four top 20 finishes in scoring defense.

Here is more background on the history of Rodriguez and Casteel … and here is a chart of how his defenses ranked at West Virginia, with yards per game and points per game:

The official release from the UA sports information office:

TUCSON, Ariz.–Arizona’s Rich Rodriguez completed his football coaching staff today with the appointment of Jeff Casteel to defensive coordinator, David Lockwood as a defensive backs coach, Bill Kirelawich as defensive line coach and Spencer Leftwich as tight ends coach.

Casteel, Lockwood and Kirelawich come from similar posts at West Virginia University and Leftwich joins Rodriguez’s staff from the offensive line position at Pittsburgh. Casteel and Kirelawich worked under Rodriguez during his tenure as head coach at WVU.

“We are very excited to have Jeff, David, Bill and Spencer, and their families, join our family here at the University of Arizona. They are not only great coaches, but great people who bring a lot of quality experience and knowledge to our staff,” Rodriguez said.

Casteel has been defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at West Virginia since 2003 and spent the season before that in Morgantown as co-coordinator. He worked with the defensive line at WVU in 2001 and as defensive ends coach at UTEP in 2000.

He was Rivals’ defensive coordinator of the year in 2010 when WVU finished third in the nation in total defense, second in rushing defense, third in scoring defense and second in sacks per game. His 2007 unit also posted top 10 marks at No. 7 in total defense and No. 8 in scoring defense.

West Virginia finished in the nation’s top 15 in total defense three of the last seven years and four of those years checked in with a top 15 scoring defense figure.

Casteel began his coaching career at California University in Pennsylvania as a graduate assistant from 1984-86, and then coached the defensive line at Palmetto High School in Miami, Fla., for a year. He was the defensive line and strength coach at Shepherd University in Sheperdstown, W. Va., in 1989 and 1990 and assistant head coach and defensive coordinator from 1991 to 1999 at Shepherd before moving to Division I football at UTEP.

He has 28 years of coaching experience and was 2008 Big East coordinator of the year, among other accolades. He has coached in 11 bowl games. Shepherd teams won West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles six times while he was assistant head coach. He’s been part of a WVU staff that has led the Mountaineers to an average of 10 victories per season in the last six years, two of those under Rodriguez.

Lockwood will coach cornerbacks at UA, his position assignment at WVU for the past four seasons. Prior to that he was Kentucky defensive backs coach in 2007, Minnesota’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in 2005-06 and Minnesota’s secondary coach from 2002-04.

He coached cornerbacks at Notre Dame in 2001, defensive backs at West Virginia in 2000 and defensive backs at Memphis in 1999. He coached wide receivers at Memphis from 1995-98, tight ends and receivers at James Madison in 1994, and tight ends and receivers at Delaware from 1990-93.

He began his career as a graduate assistant on the 1989 West Virginia team that Rodriguez served as a volunteer assistant the year before the latter began his head coaching career.

Kirelawich (pronounced Kerr-LAV-itch) has coached at West Virginia since 1979 when he spent a year as a part-time assistant. He coached the defensive line from 1980-87, outside linebackers from 1988-90, the line again from 1991 to 2000, was an administrative assistant in 2001-02 and has coached the line for the past nine years.

He started his coaching career with a nine-year stint as head coach at Cardinal Brennan, Pa., High School from 1970-78 after graduating from Salem University in 1969. He helped the 1996 Mountaineer defense finish ranked No. 1 nationally in total defense, No. 2 in rushing defense and turnover margin and No. 4 in scoring defense.

Kirelawich was 2010 FootballScoop defensive line coach of the Year.

Leftwich spent the 2011 season as offensive line coach at Pitt but has roots in the Southwest. He was the offensive line coach at Tulsa in 2010 and from 2003-06, line coach at North Texas from 2007-09 and 1994-2002, line coach at New Mexico State from 1992-93 and line coach at Stephen F. Austin from 1989-91.

A native of Gainesville, Tex., he graduated from SFA in 1988, where he was a three-year starting lineman. He also holds a 1989 master’s degree from East Texas State.

He helped the 2010 Tulsa squad rank fifth nationally in total offense, while his Mean Green front at UNT improved 100 ranking slots in pass protection in three years, while rushing for 2,233 yards his final season in 2009.

8:20 p.m. UPDATE: And now those links mentioned below have been deactivated; they were not intended to be live before the official announcement.

6:50 p.m. UPDATE: The Arizona athletic department has built on-line bio pages for defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel and two other assistants he will bring with him from West Virginia — cornerbacks coach David Lockwood and defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich. There is also a bio for former Pitt offensive line coach Spencer Leftwich, who will coach tight ends. Leftwich worked last season at Pitt with new ASU head coach Todd Graham. There are no links from arizonawildcats.com to those pages and no official announcement … but this is as official as it gets.

* * *

Jeff Casteel

Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez’s wait for a defensive coordinator should soon be over — and he will get the guy he wanted.

Rodriguez will announce West Virginia’s Jeff Casteel as his defensive coordinator on Wednesday afternoon, when the other three staff vacancies could also be filled, a source told TucsonCitizen.com on Tuesday afternoon.

Rodriguez is looking to fill two other spots on his defensive coaching staff, as well as a tight ends coach. He said he wanted to complete his staff this week in advance of the first of three recruiting weekends before Signing Day.

Casteel, who also coaches linebackers, was on Rodriguez’s coaching staff at West Virginia from 2001 to 2007, serving as the full-time coordinator for the final five seasons.

Casteel, who runs a 3-3-5 scheme, will be the highest-paid assistant on staff. He was well-compensated this season at West Virginia, with a base salary of $400,000 and scheduled increases of $50,000 in each of the next two seasons.

Including a retention bonus of $75,000 if he was still at West Virginia on Feb. 1, 2013, he was set to make $575,000 from the Mountaineers for the 2013 season.

The decision for Casteel to leave presumably didn’t come easy, given how long the process played out. Rodriguez targeted Casteel, a West Virginia native, from the moment he arrived at Arizona in late November.

The process further played out after the Mountaineers’ Orange Bowl victory over Clemson last Wednesday. Some considered an announcement imminent after the bowl game, but the waiting spilled over into this week.

Casteel, because of his success at West Virginia and his familiarity with Rodriguez, has been considered a major piece of the puzzle as Arizona moves forward with a new coaching staff. Rodriguez’s inability to take Casteel with him to Michigan after the 2007 season is one of the reasons why the Wolverines struggled under his watch.

Rodriguez’s Michigan defenses got progressively worse, from 67th nationally to 82nd to 110th in 2009.

Casteel had been set to join Rodriguez at Michigan before the new Mountaineers coach, Bill Stewart, offered him $275,000 — $10,000 more than Michigan — and a multi-year contract.

Mike Parrish, who was a director of football operations at Michigan and is the new man for that role at Arizona, is quoted as saying in the book, “Three and Out” that if West Virginia didn’t hire Stewart, “Jeff Casteel comes to Michigan.”

John U. Bacon, the author of the book about Rodriguez’s time at Michigan, wrote:

“And if Casteel had joined Rodriguez’s staff? Parrish didn’t hesitate: ‘It would have been completely different.’”

Now, Arizona doesn’t have to wonder about what Rodriguez is missing.

Jeff Casteel

Arizona Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez had hoped to have his coaching staff in place a few weeks ago. It might take several more days.

Rodriguez, still waiting on the bulk of his defensive coaches — and with no official word from his old pal, West Virginia defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel — told KOLD-TV’s Dave Cooney today there would be no decision on a coordinator until next week.

Later, Rodriguez wrote in a text to TucsonCitizen.com: “I will probably settle the staff by the end of next week.”

Several reports have indicated that Casteel is close to coming to Arizona — or even that it is done — but nothing is official until it’s official. Casteel likely would bring one, perhaps two, defensive assistants with him from West Virginia if he comes.

From Rodriguez’s perspective, he has to move, one way or another, soon. The end of next week sounds like a hard deadline.

Rodriguez wants to have three big recruiting weekends through January, starting with next Friday, and it will hard to make progress without a full staff.

He told Cooney that “I have really been taking my time because I didn’t want to disrupt and talk to anybody extensively until all the bowl games are over, and that last bowl game doesn’t finish until Monday.”

Casteel was with Rodriguez through his entire tenure at West Virginia, from 2001 to 2007, serving as the full-time defensive coordinator for the final five seasons. Casteel, a West Virginia native, nearly joined Rodriguez at Michigan but stayed when new Mountaineers coach Bill Stewart offered him slightly more money and a multi-year contract.

(More background on Casteel here from earlier this week.)

Rodriguez spoke Friday in Scottsdale at a National Football Foundation luncheon, honoring the Arizona Football Coaches Association selections for the All-State Top 25 players and the six division-winning high school coaches.

Below is the video from KOLD’s Cooney. And you can also click on FoxSportsArizona.com as Rodriguez met with Mark McClune, talking about recruiting and the rivalry with ASU, now coached by one of former assistants, Todd Graham.

Also from Cooney: Go to KOLD.com for his interview with Graham.

Jeff Casteel

Speculation heated up Monday night that West Virginia defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel will join Rich Rodriguez at Arizona.

Filling the position of defensive coordinator has been Rodriguez’s top priority, and Casteel has been his top choice.

Casteel was with Rodriguez during his entire seven-year tenure at West Virginia, and Rodriguez’s inability to bring Casteel with him to Michigan after the 2007 is considered among the top reasons for a lack of success with the Wolverines.

Casteel has had very little to say publicly about the possibility of coming to Arizona, but he also hasn’t said no. The presumption is that any kind of announcement would wait until after the Mountaineers play Clemson in the Orange Bowl on Wednesday night.

Rodriguez, who had self-imposed a mid-December deadline to fill out his coaching staff, has held four positions open, which suggests he has been willing to wait for a special someone. Rodriguez said he wanted his defensive coordinator to have input on the hiring of the other defensive assistants.

So far, Rodriguez has only one defensive assistant — secondary coach Tony Gibson. Rodriguez hired four offensive assistants — co-offensive coordinator/running backs coach Calvin Magee, co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Rod Smith, receivers coach Tony Dews and offensive line coach Robert Anae, a holdover from last season’s staff.

If Casteel — who runs a 3-3-5 defense that emphasizes speed over size — jumps to Arizona, he probably won’t come cheap.

He has a contract at West Virginia through June 30, 2014. His base salary is $400,000 this season, with scheduled $50,000 increases for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. He also has a retention bonus of $75,000 if he is still at West Virginia on Feb. 1, 2013.

So, he could make $575,000 if he was with the Mountaineers for the 2013 season.

Casteel, a native of West Virginia, was set to join Rodriguez at Michigan, before new Mountaineers coach Bill Stewart offered him $275,000 — $10,000 more than Michigan — and a multi-year contract.

Mike Parrish, who was a director of football operations at Michigan and is the new man for that role at Arizona, is quoted as saying in the book, “Three and Out” that if West Virginia didn’t hire Stewart, “Jeff Casteel comes to Michigan.”

John U. Bacon, the author of the book about Rodriguez’s time at Michigan, wrote:

“And if Casteel had joined Rodriguez’s staff? Parrish didn’t hesitate: ‘It would have been completely different.’”

Casteel coached the defensive line in his first season at West Virginia in 2001, then was promoted to co-defensive coordinator — with new Arizona State head coach Todd Graham in 2002.

Graham left after that season, and Casteel has been the Mountaineers’ defensive coordinator and linebacker coach ever since, even through the head coaching transition to Dana Holgorsen before this season.