When you’re from a small town (Paden City) in a state ridiculed by the rest of the nation (West Virginia), it’s always a thrill to see a hometown boy get his 15 minutes of fame. So it was with Jeff Casteel on ESPN’s Big East Blog yesterday.

Casteel is the defensive coordinator for West Virginia University’s football team. He has been on the coaching staff since 2001 and has headed the defense since 2003. I was glad he didn’t flee in the middle of the night three years ago when Rich Rodriguez went to Michigan, and now Casteel is getting his due.

He’s also getting it in the humble way I would expect from a Paden City boy:

Jeff Casteel has got it all wrong. The West Virginia defensive coordinator needs to hire a fast-talking agent, pronto. Perhaps he could enlist a marketing team. A website wouldn’t hurt either.

Doesn’t Casteel know this is the age of the superstar coordinator in college football, the guy who gets tons of face time during TV broadcasts and commands a salary of up to half a million dollars? Your name is supposed to be on every list of future head coaches, and if you can get one of those coach-in-waiting contracts, even better. …

I asked Casteel whether he was interested in becoming a head coach or if he was a guy just happy to be a coordinator.

“If the right opportunity came along, no question about it,” he said. “But I don’t actively try to get out and seek things because I can’t do that and do a good job here. If the opportunity to be a head coach came along, it’s something I would look at. Everything is about being in the right situation. West Virginia is a good place and I’m happy here.”

The marketing folks have a difficult case on their hands here. Jeff Casteel has a lot to learn about the superstar culture.

I’m proud to say that Casteel coached me, albeit briefly. He assisted the Paden City Wildcats defense during summer practice in 1984, my senior year and the only year I tried out for the team. I wanted to be a linebacker and remember well nailing one of our star halfbacks in practice just as he caught a pass in my assigned area. He dropped the ball.

My teammate was furious that I, a lowly third-stringer, had hit him so hard in practice. He also accused me of hitting him before he touched the ball. I apologized but Casteel would have none of it. He scolded the receiver for whining, slapped me on the back and told me to hit him harder next time.

That attitude makes a great defensive coordinator.