Juan Castillo, first impressions
A coach's first impressions
Juan Castillo, first impressions
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
The date was April 18, 1998. That is was a long time ago goes without saying. But it is the first time I remember Juan Castillo speaking.
He had been on Ray Rhodes' staff for a couple of years in an entry-level position, learning the business of NFL coaching. Now he was the offensive line coach in what pretty much everyone knew was going to be Rhodes' final season as the Eagles' head coach. This particular day was draft day. It was the day the Eagles picked Tra Thomas.
As part of the media sales job, reporters were brought into one of the players' meeting rooms at the Vet, those old, cramped, damp places with the stained ceiling tiles and the ever-present hint of rodents watching your ever move. There, Castillo popped in a videotape of Thomas and commenced coaching.
I can't tell you exactly what he said, but the memory is full of "whams" and "bams" and whatnot as Castillo grew more and more excited about the player his team had just drafted. His enthusiasm impressed everybody that day. It was really kind of infectious, even given the hard-bitten crew to whom Castillo was preaching.
So much has happened since then, obviously -- topped off Wednseday by Castillo's unlikely elevation to defensive coordinator. Since Andy Reid doesn't allow reporters to talk to his position coaches, most of our communication with Castillo over the years has been limited to nods of hello and observations of how hard he took the losses. Sometimes he would be sitting in the lockerroom -- especially on the road -- and just staring kind of forlornly into the distance.
But after the Wednesday press conference was over, Castillo was talking to a circle of reporters outside the auditorium at the NovaCare Complex. This whole thing really is a bolt from the blue, and I have no earthly idea how it is going to work out. I still don't understand why they took this chance.
But standing there, listening to Castillo, there were no "whams" or "bams" but the same enthusiasm for the task ahead was plain.
After all of these years, that part has not changed.
Juan is a quality coach, however Reid made the same statments about McDermott that he is now making about Juan: "Hard worker, attitude, etc...". "Hard working" is irrelevent if one cannot get the job done which is where McDermott ended up. McDermott lacked credibility and respect from his players (and other coaches). Juan now has the same "credibility issues" McDermott had. Already players are saying "what, the O line coach"??? Juan, much like McDermott, will have huge learning curve being away from D so long. There were definitly more qualified candidates out there and I fear this move represents a high probablity of potential failure.
Bad move Eagles...you may have just set up yourselves and Juan for failure.
For a team trying to reach the SB, it appears this is a project. As with so many of their other decisions. REID MUST GO!!!— Gee Money
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A good move that retains an enthusiastic, successful, universally respected coach to work with two new "best of the line" coaches in Washburn and Mudd. GO EAGLES!— Leegles- For all you guys who wants reid gone is plaine ole stupid. First off, it seem half the NFL head coaches has ties to Ried. Second, who would you hire. The only people out there who might be considered better is Cowher and Gruden, but Andy is just one superbowl victory in being put in with them. I remeber the ray Rhodes era and the Kottite era. Heck, Buddy ryan never even made it to the NFC championship. If he did it was only once. Andy Reid will win a superbowl with the eagles and then he is gonna ride off into the sunset. Then the next decade after that, the fans will be calling to bring him back.— radicaleaglesfan
- No - with this move I do not believe he will win a SB. Nor does 90% percent of the people who can walk and chew gum at the same time. Nor 100% of all the NFL defensive coaches. Reid is just so smart- maybe he should run for president. With the d line coach I thought we maybe onto something - not now.
One step forward, 3 steps back.
- this team really needs a professional GM. i mean, come on man.— snakeplissken
- One more signing to come. can't remove marty from oc, so move your offensive line coach to dc, opens up an offensive coaching spot...WHAM, here comes childress back from the unemployed. friends taking care of friends, happens everywhere, everyday. not sure how this will turn out, but radeagalesfan is correct, we've had better football this past decade than we had seen for a long, long time prior.— edseagles
- If he was Andy's guy since the beginning, why it took so long to promote him defensive coordinator? Somehow the Eagles plan to replace McDermott went down hill, IMO.— EL Zorro
- Yeah, but the one promising thing i saws yesterday was how his players talk about him. I've heard the raves in the past from Eagles o-Linemen. And I heard Runyan and Justice talk glowingly about him as well. I never heard that about McDermott. All I ever heard about McDermott was that he was Jim Johnson's right hand man...as if proximity to greatness was all it took set you on a path to your own success...— gee1971
JUAN now will have the mission of shaping the DEFENSE; DRAFT, FA, game plans...JUAN is AR'S GUY and he will get it done...johnnyu DICK VERMIEL would be PROUD and so am I...CONGRATS AR, GO GETTUM JUAN...johnnyu- I have a close friend that played in Philly with Juan as his position coach. He just called me and said "Andy Reid hit a home run. No one will be more prepared and thorough as Juan will be. No one understands the whole game better than Juan. The defensive coaches ALWAYS came to Juan for his input. Andy Reid just bought himself 5 more years." That is what Juan's player said. I am very excited that the Eagles showed the leadership and foresight not to do "same old, same old." My friend also said that Jim Washburn is a tremendous coach and do not be surprised if Albert Haynesworth does not end up here with the only coach that brought out his talent.— tommazza
- Relax people, at least Juan has experience on Defense at the High School level. That's much better than the Accountant turned GM Howie Roseman, who had ZERO experience in football and he evaluates everybody on the team including coaches! Scary stuff!!— younged
- Silly stuff. Former players do not make great talent evaluators. If I was hiring a GM, I would hire a professional gambler with a nice track record. I'll put my evaluation skills against anyone in the NFL and I never played a down but I have averaged $60k net a year betting football games. For all of the former players on TV, I have never seen a single one who could be a professional handicapper or who can look at game film and be a plus prognosticator. — UncleStosh
- I would think and experienced coach like him would have to know D pretty well? Why? Seems like you have no clue, figure it out yourself. Gee, Andy showed loyalty, guts, and thinking outside the box. Cut me a break and go back to your xbox — TexasYankee
