Casey steps down at Aurora Central Catholic
As Aurora Central Catholic's head varsity football coach, Brian Casey's emphasis has been “family.”
Family starts at home. And for Casey, also at day care.
On Monday Casey picked up his 11-month-old son, Parker, early from a day care center 25 miles from ACC. The little boy dropped a toy and darted across the room to hug his father.
Moments like this happened far too infrequently for Casey's liking, and served as the final factor in the 31-year-old Casey's decision on Tuesday to resign as ACC football coach, assistant athletic director and admissions director.
“I love coaching football, I love Aurora Central,” Casey said. “It's those types of moments that I certainly want to be around for and be able to capture, to be around my son and my wife.
“This was not a football decision. If it was a football decision I probably would have made a move or a decision back in December. This was a professional decision.”
A 2001 graduate of Montini Catholic, Casey will return to his alma mater as alumni relations director in the Lombard school's development office, starting in June.
A football position has yet to be finalized, he said, but the former Broncos quarterback plans to be on the staff of Montini coach Chris Andriano — Casey's former coach — “in some capacity.”
Montini, he noted, was two minutes from Parker's day care provider and closer to the Westmont home where Casey lives with wife Erin.
“We do talk about the Aurora Central Catholic football family a whole heck of a lot and we do have a banner at the stadium that's been our mantra for a number of years,” he said. “But when I go home my wife is the senior captain. My little guy is the sophomore varsity starter. They are the people I have to look out for as well, and ultimately that's why the decision was made.”
ACC athletic director Sean Bieterman had not expected it.
“We're still kind of taking all this in,” Bieterman said. “Our job is to be able to put somebody in place to continue what he had built and grown over nine years as a coach and as an educator and to make sure our kids are well taken care of.”
In five seasons as head coach, Casey led the Chargers to a 25-23 record including playoff appearances the last three seasons. They hadn't visited the postseason at least three straight years since 1997 and until Casey took over in 2010 had won 24 total games in 12 years. A 2012 conference title was the first since 1996.
“He's a good friend and I wish him well,” Bieterman said. “We built a good bond together and I appreciate the fine work he did with the kids. He always put the kids first, which is something I appreciate in a coach.”
Casey said the games were “fun,” but it was more about the journey.
“The stuff I enjoyed the most and will miss the most is obviously the process,” he said. “The process of developing relationships, the stuff we were able to do as a team, be it a retreat in Wisconsin, the ‘Midnight Madness' things we did, in developing relationships with kids and really trying to get them to understand what's important and how to be a young man who accepts responsibility, knows the difference between right and wrong and is accountable.
“ ... They're great kids, they're hard working. They've been tremendous,” he said.
Casey was most appreciative of Bieterman and of ACC principal and superintendent Rev. F. William Etheredge for hiring him at age 22, and as head football coach at 25. Casey said he and Etheredge — who said Casey's wedding mass — helped increase enrollment from 435 students in 2006 to more than 600.
“I'm not sure there are many other people who would take such a risk, especially on someone fresh out of college,” Casey said. “But collectively I think we've done a tremendous job ‘selling' the school.”
Casey felt he's “kind of grown up myself” through his work as coach and administrator at Aurora Central Catholic. He'll take that maturity to where he spent his formative years.
“It's a sad day in terms of saying goodbye to some of my friends, but at the same time I'm excited about a new challenge,” he said.