Remembering Princeton football coach Bob Casciola
PRINCETON, N.J. — The Princeton University Athletics program mourned the loss of football Coach Bob Casciola, who passed away in April while living in Scottsdale, Arizona.
According to his obituary, Robert F. Casciola passed away at age 89 after a brief illness. He was born in Brooklyn, NY, and had previously lived in Monroe Twp. Casciola graduated from Mineola High School, the Manlius School and Princeton University.
While at Princeton, he was a three-year starter as a two-way lineman for the Princeton football team, in 1955-57. He played under future Hall of Fame Coaches Charles Caldwell and Dick Colman. Casciola was named first-team All-Ivy, one year after being a second-team selection on the first-ever All-Ivy team, according to Princeton University’s TigerBlog.
He spent 20 years in college coaching as an assistant coach at Princeton University, Dartmouth College and the University of Connecticut. He later became the head coach at the University of Connecticut in 1971 before returning to Princeton as the head coach for five seasons (1973-77), according to his obituary.
He took over the National Football Foundation (NFF) in 1991, eventually becoming the executive director and later as the president until his retirement in 2005. While there, he helped with the relocation project of the College Football Hall of Fame and its transition to a state-of-the-art facility in 1995, according to the NFF.
In 1978, he joined First Fidelity Bank of New Jersey and rose to senior vice president, leaving in 1987 to become executive vice president and chief operating officer of the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association, a position he held for five years, according to the NFF.
During the 1985 and 1986 seasons, Casciola served as color analyst for the Ivy League Game of the Week on National Public Television. In addition, his broadcasting career included color commentary for the Mizlou Television Network, working the Independence Bowl in 1985, 1986 and 1987; the Hall of Fame Bowl in 1986 and the Senior Bowl in 1988. From the fall of 1987 through 1990, Casciola was color commentator for the Great American Independent Football broadcasts on national television that included Boston College, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Temple, Rutgers, Army and Navy, according to the NFF.
He coordinated the coaching at the Quarterback-Receiver Camp, was a member of the selection committee of the Garden State Bowl and served on the Executive Committee of the Kickoff Classic, according to his obituary.
For his efforts with New Jersey high school football, Casciola received the Coaches Association Honor Award in 1981; and the Delaware Valley Chapter of The NFF awarded him the Distinguished American Award in 1984, which was subsequently renamed the Robert F. Casciola Distinguished American Award. He was honored by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority for his work in athletics and was named “Person of the Year” by the New Jersey Tournament of Champions. For his contributions to college football, the Downtown Athletic Club honored him with a Heisman Scholarship Award in 1994, according to the NFF.
Casciola, published a book, “1st And Forever,” with Jon Land as part-memoir part-tribute to the game, in 2018, according to NFF.
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