Early spring of 2022, Casey Sully was announced to be the head coach of the SRHS football program, and as of just last year, he decided to take up the role of athletic director.
Sully grew up in the East Bay, graduating from St. Mary’s High School. Growing up, Sully was always a shy kid. “If I needed participation points, then I wasn’t getting them. I didn’t like raising my hand, didn’t like being in front of people, wasn’t really my thing,” says Sully. He wasn’t really a social person to begin with, the type to party or a popular guy. He had his small group of friends with whom he connected, played football, ran track, and swam.
After high school, he went to Denison University in Ohio to receive his degree in biology. After that he decided to take a gap year and take internships having to do with medicine. He began to grow an interest in coaching and reached out to his old high school. “They gave me a run around, weren’t super clear with me and didn’t give me a job and sort of misled me,” says Sully.
From that experience, he decided to apply to schools that his old high school played. Some of the schools he applied to responded and interviewed him. He went on to be a JV coach for Pinole Valley for his first year, then became jv head coach for the next two years. After Pinole, he coached Tamalpais as the offensive coordinator, quarterbacks, and receivers coach for four years.
Now Sully is coaching here at SRHS as the head coach, and he has built multiple relationships with his players since he has gotten to SRHS. “There was no team companionship, but when Sully arrived he changed that up,” says senior Vielman Vicente.
With the previous football coach, most players didn’t have the mentality in which they wanted to win or even play. The players who were on the 2022-2023 season didn’t believe that Sully even knew what he was talking about or that Sully knew what he was getting himself into coaching a bad team, since the players had a really tough season the year prior. “After beating Terra Linda and going to playoffs, we were like this dude actually knows what he’s talking about, and after that it flipped a switch in everyone, where now they actually believed that they could win,” says Amos Munoz, a football player who graduated two years ago.
Senior Christopher Benavidez says, “The discipline and resiliency that he helped us find within ourselves throughout the offseason and regular season is what makes this program special.”
After Sully’s first year of being head coach to the SRHS program, he decided to take up the role as athletic director. “There’s a hunger on campus to get better and to not be the team that is looked down upon in Marin,” says Sully.
Sully also adds, “I saw that there was improvement in a lot of the sports and building relationships and creating relationships and sort of team unity and that family atmosphere is something that I’m passionate about being AD.”
He hopes to create a better environment where all sports feel like one family and supportive of each other. With the big culture and huge diversity at SRHS, it is really easy to have teammates from different backgrounds and create bigger and better interactions throughout SR.
During the fall season, Sully finds it very hard to balance being a coach and AD during weekdays and weekends. Everyday he gets home at around 8 o’clock from practice, and gets home with lots to do. He has to look at film to make sure his players are prepared for games and catch up on emails that are loaded up on his inbox. “It takes a lot of my time for me to prepare for practice or games or whatever it is,” says sully.
Sully finds ways in order to support other teams, whether it’s after practice or after football season is over. “A volleyball game was happening after practice so I ran over to TL and watched the volleyball team. Once football is over it’s a lot easier for me to watch a game whether it’s a soccer game or basketball game or a spring sport,” says Sully.
During certain occasions, when both the players and Sully find time, mostly during the beginning of their season, they head off to support other teams that are playing away. “He requires us to go watch games, and although not many of us understood many of the rules, we are definitely present with cheering the team on,” says senior Adan Gomez. “Being able to go and support another team is very important because not only are we representing the SR athletic community, we are building bonds with other teams that make it more likely for them to come to our games and cheer us on.”
Sully and Shawna Hoch, head coach of the cheerleading team, have had team dinners since Sully arrived at SR. Both of the coaches thought it would be a great experience for both sports to get together and bond since the cheerleaders are on the sideline cheering for the football team.
“I personally think that the concept of it is great, not many know each other outside of the sport and I think it would be important to have fun with each other. I think both football and the cheerleaders should have a couple of activities planned out to be able to socialize a bit more and get to know each other more,” explains Mia Reyes, a junior.
Sully has done a very successful job having sports bond together and support each other, it’s a support that most sports haven’t seen in a while. Sully’s main focus right now being the football coach is hoping that they can win a couple of championships.
“I wanna win and I believe that we can, and I feel like I’m making a difference in them. I’m happy with where I’m at and excited to continue to build and get better,” says Sully.
