It’s Casey’s time to Shine at Chapman

Courtesy of Chapman Athletics

Winning games is one thing. Building a culture rooted in grit is harder. Casey Shine has done both at Chapman.

Chapman Football has officially named Shine to be the team’s head coach. Shine led the Panthers to an undefeated Southern California Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (SCIAC) record last year in his first season as interim head coach. 

To add on to the successful regular season, the Panthers secured SCIAC’s first road playoff win against Whitworth University. Shine and his staff were named SCIAC Coaching Staff of the Year. 

Shine, who grew up in Orange and attended El Modena High School just down the road from Chapman, said he’s grateful for the opportunity to lead the program he’s been a part of for almost 15 years. 

“I just absolutely love working at Chapman … the coaches here, the people here, it's just a great place to be in,” Shine said. “I was really happy that we were able to win on the field. But also, we had our best semester in the classroom … to be able to win a championship and to have our best GPA for a semester was just absolutely awesome.”

For Shine, football is about more than just the scoreboard or the stat sheet. He measures success not only through wins, but also through how he prepares his players for the future. 

“The wins on Saturdays are great, but the wins when we see them come back as alumni with the family, with kids, with a job, with their successes in life — five, 10, 20 years down the road. I mean that that beats any win on Saturday. It makes me so happy.”

Good grades, a successful career and a fulfilled life is all Shine really wants for his players. But on the field, it’s hard to believe Shine thinks about anything other than dominance. Junior business administration major Jacob Gaudi talked about what it’s like to share the sideline with his head coach.

“He's the first one to let you know that you made a great play, and I think that's something really special,” Gaudi said. “And when you make a bad play, he’s the first one in your ear to let you know that you can be better. He knows that you can be so good, and he just wants you to play to that potential … when he’s on that field, he’s just a ball of energy”

Junior applied human physiology major Fischer Huss similarly praised Shine’s coaching style and the confidence he places in his players.

“He encourages us to be leaders on and off the field. He really vouches for us,” Huss said. “When things aren't going well he's picking us up and he turns to us and is like, ‘what are you guys seeing?’ And he really respects our opinions and our views of how the team is going.”

The chance to motivate and collaborate with his players is a big reason Shine wants to continue his role as offensive coordinator even after being promoted to head coach.

“I basically told myself that as long as I still love calling plays, I want to continue to call plays. It's the reason I got into coaching. I just love the strategy part of it, love the communication with the team and players,” Shine said. “As long as I still love it and can do it, I don't see myself giving it up.”

Shine said his offensive background makes him more of an aggressive coach, often going for it on fourth down and always finding creative ways to put points on the board. Gaudi, who plays on the defense, described what it’s like to face Shine’s offense every day in practice. 

“They move at a really fast speed, so it's tiring. You have to be really mentally locked in,” Gaudi said. “So going up against that every day is tough, but yeah, it prepares us for the games.”

On both the offensive and defensive side of the ball, the Panthers’ dominance this past season cannot be overstated. In SCIAC play, the Panthers averaged almost 10 more points and 90 more total yards than any other team, along with having the No. 1-ranked defense. 

When asked about the culture he wants to establish for the team moving forward, Shine pointed to one of the team’s mantras: grit. He said the team uses the word in both its literal meaning and as an acronym. For Shine, grit means not giving up, overcoming adversity and giving full effort with a good attitude. 

It also stands for “growth, responsibility, intelligence and time.” It’s a message Shine hopes his players carry with them through every practice, game and challenge they face. He constantly pushes his players to be better and gives them the tools to do so, but he also keeps it fun and lighthearted. 

Huss recalled some of his favorite moments with Shine.

“When we won our game up in Whitworth, he was dancing with us in the locker room, having fun,” Huss said. “He'll go to the (cafeteria) and put down five plates of food like it's nothing. He can read our team very well … he really looks after all of us.”

Gaudi also mentioned how involved Shine is with his team and the Chapman campus.

“If there's burgers in the caf, he's always a happy guy,” Gaudi said. 

Shine has proved to be an exceptional coach because of everything he does on the field to help Chapman win. But the moments off the field, and the way he looks after his team, are what make him a respected role model to his players. 

It will be difficult to top the success Shine saw in his first year leading the team. Anything close to Chapman’s performance last season would be more than satisfactory for fans. But fueled by grit — and maybe a few caf burgers — Shine will do everything he can to bring home another SCIAC championship.