{"id":47154,"date":"2013-06-11T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2013-06-11T13:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=47154"},"modified":"2013-06-09T07:52:38","modified_gmt":"2013-06-09T11:52:38","slug":"raiders-complete-2013-football-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=47154","title":{"rendered":"Raiders Complete 2013 Football Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"COLGATE<\/a>Biddle Names Shaffner Co-Defensive Coordinator, Casula to Offense<\/p>\n

(Hamilton, NY \u2013 June 7, 2013) Colgate head coach Dick Biddle finalized his 2013 football staff with the addition of two coaches he announced\u00a0Friday.<\/p>\n

Paul Shaffner and Steve Casula join a veteran crew that guided the Raiders last season to the Patriot League championship and a berth in the NCAA playoffs. Shaffner takes over as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, while Casula will be handling tight ends and H-backs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul is a huge plus for us; he\u2019s really going to help the program,\u201d Biddle said. \u201cHe\u2019s an experienced coach. He\u2019s been a defensive coordinator in this league \u2013 at Lafayette for a number of years and they were really good.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s originally from New York State, so he knows the area. He knows the Patriot League. And he\u2019s been a head coach, so he\u2019s got great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casula actually joined the staff in time for spring practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteve did a good job in the spring and he\u2019s really a good recruiter,\u201d Biddle said. \u201cHe\u2019s at the right age with the right mentality, and our kids are really responding to him. He\u2019s going to be successful and he\u2019s already making a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey both are great additions to our staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buffalo Native<\/p>\n

Shaffner grew up and played his high school football in the Buffalo suburb of Lancaster, N.Y. He then played collegiately at Ithaca College, helping the Bombers to the 1979 NCAA Division III national championship. Before graduating in 1982, Shaffner received the Sebring Scholar-Athlete distinction for highest grade-point average on the football team.<\/p>\n

He coached briefly at Ithaca while earning his master\u2019s degree, moved to the Division III ranks at Maine Maritime, and then returned to college football with a position as graduate assistant coach at Penn State from 1986-88. The Nittany Lions were voted 1986 national champions thanks to a perfect 12-0 record.<\/p>\n

Shaffner moved to Lafayette in 1988 and stayed 13 seasons, guiding the Leopards\u2019 to three conference titles and posting several No. 1 Patriot League defensive rankings during his term as coordinator from 1992-99.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very excited because this is just an outstanding opportunity,\u201d Shaffner said. \u201cFor me personally, it\u2019s great to be back in the Patriot League. I loved being in the Patriot League before; it\u2019s such an outstanding conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow to be here at Colgate is just a tremendous honor, and certainly I\u2019m very excited about the chance to work with Coach Biddle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaffner moved into the head coaching ranks first at Glenville State in West Virginia and then back home at Buffalo State. Glenville won a conference title during his 2000-03 stay and Shaffner was named WVIAC Coach of the Year. At Buffalo State from 2004-08, Shaffner coached 38 players to All-Conference honors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of familiarity recruiting New York State and Western New York especially,\u201d Shaffner said. \u201cThat is hopefully going to help us try to find the best student-athletes we can for Colgate here in New York State and get them in the Maroon and White.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving scholarships, we now have an opportunity to go places where we haven\u2019t been before. We\u2019re going to be able to recruit that kid who is an outstanding athlete, has excellent grades but who had scholarship offers to other schools that don\u2019t have the same academic standards we do. Those are the kids we want because they\u2019re smart, and those are the young men who belong here at Colgate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaffner has coached at the small college and high school level the last few seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul gives us a lot of stability and a lot of experience coaching wise,\u201d Biddle said. \u201cFor a lot of people coming into this league, it\u2019s an adjustment — such as dealing with the academics. You just can\u2019t go out and blanket recruit. You have to be able to find the right people who can fit what you\u2019re trying to do and also fit the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul has that ability. It was a big hire for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tight End Production<\/p>\n

Casula joins the Raiders from Western Michigan, where he coached tight ends and fullbacks during the 2012 season after serving as a graduate assistant with the offensive line for two years. Broncos tight ends improved from 17 catches for 110 yards the year before Casula took over that position to 46 for 487 under his guidance, despite the fact that five different tight ends received starts.<\/p>\n

The 2009 University of Delaware graduate also served as a Blue Hens student-assistant coach from 2008-09, first working with the offensive line and then wide receivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited to be here and excited to work with Coach Biddle and the rest of the staff,\u201d Casula said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great department \u2013 administratively, the coaches, student-athletes and support staff. It\u2019s been awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casula said his early arrival and the ability to be on the practice field 15 times during spring practice should pay dividends when fall camp starts in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I probably don\u2019t know my position guys on a personal level quite as well as I\u2019d like to, I certainly got a good feel for what we\u2019re trying to do as an offense and what my guys\u2019 capabilities are,\u201d he said. \u201cAny coach has to be a good teacher, not only the schemes but also fundamentals. At the end of the day, the only things that matter are, can you get guys to do what you want and what you need them to do?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited because we\u2019ve got a good football team. The thing I\u2019ve been most impressed with is you never have to hear any of our coaches\u2019 talk about effort. Everybody plays hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

One other coaching addition will be volunteer assistant Terry Dow on the defensive side of the ball.<\/p>\n

Colgate\u2019s fall practices start\u00a0Aug. 5.<\/p>\n

Colgate Football 2013 Schedule<\/p>\n

Aug. 31\u00a0at Air Force TBA<\/p>\n

Sept. 7 ALBANY 6 p.m.<\/p>\n

Sept. 14\u00a0at New Hampshire\u00a0Noon<\/p>\n

Sept. 21 YALE 1 p.m.<\/p>\n

Oct. 5\u00a0at Cornell TBA<\/p>\n

Oct. 12\u00a0STONY BROOK\u00a06 p.m.<\/p>\n

Oct. 19\u00a0at Holy Cross *\u00a0Noon<\/p>\n

Oct. 26\u00a0at Georgetown *\u00a01 p.m.<\/p>\n

Nov. 2\u00a0BUCKNELL *\u00a01 p.m.<\/p>\n

Nov. 9\u00a0at Lafayette *\u00a03:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Nov. 16\u00a0LEHIGH *\u00a01 p.m.<\/p>\n

Nov. 23 FORDHAM 1 p.m.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

* Patriot League.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Biddle Names Shaffner Co-Defensive Coordinator, Casula to Offense (Hamilton, NY \u2013 June 7, 2013) Colgate head coach Dick Biddle finalized his 2013 football staff with the addition of two coaches he announced\u00a0Friday. Paul Shaffner and Steve Casula join a veteran crew that guided the Raiders last season to the Patriot League championship and a berth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}