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The Next Level Woodlawn School’s new basketball coach Jim Casciano
by Renee Roberson | Photography by Jon Beyerle
Basketball is in Jim Casciano’s blood, and even after he retired from 40 years of coaching the sport at the college level, he still couldn’t let it go. This fall he begins a new chapter as head basketball coach at Woodlawn School in Mooresville. It was a coaching opportunity at Johnson & Wales University that brought Jim and his wife Daphne to Huntersville from Maine in 2014, although he jokes that it was really the weather that brought them here. He’d spent the majority of his years as a head coach at four-year institutions in places like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Vermont, and the moderate climate of North Carolina more than appealed to them. While he’d also coached in Virginia, North Carolina is the furthest south he and Daphne have ever lived. After four years at Johnson & Wales, Casciano says he retired after 40 years because it seemed like a good number. He was starting to get tired of the travel and the year-round recruiting, and his energy levels were waning. “I would advise anyone who is retiring that they should have a plan,” he says. He didn’t really have any hobbies because coaching had taken up so much of his time. After retirement, he took a year off to decompress and regroup. He toyed with the idea of coaching part time, and then decided he’d get back in the game by searching out an assistant coach position. He worked at Lake Norman Charter School for two years in that role, and says he loved his time there. But, he 22
LAKE NORMAN CURRENTS | OCTOBER 2021
admits, “once you’re a head coach you’re always a head coach.” But as he sought out head coaching jobs in the CharlotteMecklenburg School System, he lost out on positions because he wasn’t a teacher, and most coaches at CMS serve dual roles. When he heard about a head coaching position for the basketball team at Woodlawn School, he thought it might be a good fit. Once he met with Athletic Director Shellee Young, who joined the school in May of this year, he says they hit it off immediately. “She’s very positive. I think she’s going to do some great things,” he says. “I hope I can upgrade and improve the basketball program to coincide with her vision.” During his career as a coach, Casciano has developed a coaching philosophy he calls “The Total Program.” “It goes simply beyond basketball, encompassing attributes such as dedication, discipline, respect, and love of learning. All of these are necessary for success not only on the basketball court but in the classroom and everyday life . . . ‘The Total Program’ consists of four cornerstones: Teaching Values, Building Dreams, Formula for Success, and my role as the Head Coach.” Some people just can’t retire, and Casciano has accepted that he’s one of those people. “I can’t get basketball out of my blood,” he says. “I still love it and have the enthusiasm for it. I like to hope that I make a difference in the players’ lives beyond basketball. At the end of the day, I hope they have fun.”
