Tim Cassidy, one of the veteran-most administrators in college football, is preparing to hang up his whistle and shelve his operations binder.
A 40-year veteran of the profession, Cassidy is retiring from his post as Senior Associate Athletics Director for Football Operations at Arizona State, where Cassidy's wife of 41 years, Nancy, also is a senior accounting lecturer in the school's highly regarded W.P. Carey School of Business.
It's a move the Cassidys have discussed since January as the pioneer in the industry – he was one of major college football's first director of football operations – assessed his career path and made the decision to plan for this moment.
The Cassidys have three adult children, Austin, Danielle and Ryan.
Cassidy's career in the world of football operations quite literally is unequaled.
In his 40 years as an integral but oft-invisible staff member at some of the sport's signature programs, including a trio of stints at Texas A&M as well as in a senior operations role at the University of Nebraska, Cassidy has been a part of more than 480 football games.
Admired and respected by his peers and colleagues, few have done more for the overall profession and for the programs where he has worked.
In addition to his reputation as a master of the details necessary for daily operations within a football program, Cassidy also carved a niche as an excellent talent evaluator – he's considered key in helping staffs that signed Luke Joeckel, Ndamukong Suh and Johnny Manziel, among others – and a visionary as it pertained to athletics facilities.
Cassidy had a major influence on ASU's state-of-the-art training center unveiled in 2017, as well as helped to spearhead similar, large-scale projects at both Nebraska (the Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex) and Texas A&M (the Texas A&M Bright Family Football Complex and the Nye Academic Center).
Initially an assistant coach at Morningside College, Cassidy joined the staff of Aggies legend Jackie Sherrill as a recruiting assistant in 1983 and thus initiated his distinguished career path that saw Cassidy count Sherrill, RC Slocum, Mike Sherman, Bill Callahan, Todd Graham and Herm Edwards amongst his key mentors.
Cassidy has served as a mentor and offered a proverbial hand up to countless people in the profession. He will be missed by many.
Please join us in wishing Coach Cassidy and his lovely wife Nancy a wonderful next phase of life.
