With a smile on his face and a list of 30 Coast Union High School players already signed up for football next season, new Bronco head coach Charlie Casale boiled it all down for a reporter: “I love coaching football.”

The man who was an assistant for the Broncos over the last few years, and who served as a head coach at Mt. Whitney High School in Visalia for 20 years, is eagerly taking his first steps as Coast Union head coach: talking to the players one-on-one, two-on-one, and sometimes three-on-one in the coach’s office on campus.

“It’s tremendously important — especially in a smaller school — for the coach to have a good relationship with his players,” Castle explained.  “The kids have to buy in to what you’re doing.”
He’s listening to what the players are saying in order to help them feel that they not only have input to the program, but that they have ownership as well.

By listening to the players, Casale has already made a change in the weight-training schedule during the season. Rather than two days of weight training (Monday and Tuesday), Casale will schedule one longer workout (Monday).

“I could do it a certain way and the kids would accept it,” he explained. “But why not have input from the kids? The kids know the system, they know the philosophy, they know the routes to run,” Casale explained. “There’s a good foundation here, and I’m going to build on that foundation.”

Meanwhile, Bruce and Jane Howard, parents of junior wide receiver Tommy Howard, are thrilled that Casale is head coach.

“He has a passion for the game and for the kids,” Jane said.  “Everything about Charlie we support 100 percent,” Bruce explained.

“This is huge that he’s the coach,” Jane enthused, adding that recently several of the players — her son, Emmany Godinez, Grant Magnuson, among others – went to Casale’s real estate office and said “‘Please don’t give up on us coach.’”

Clearly, he hasn’t.