Burnet football announces addition to staff – Casey Buck
CAPTION: Casey Buck is joining the Burnet Consolidated Independent School District staff after a recommendation from another member of the Bulldog family. Courtesy photo
The Burnet High School football team added a coach for the upcoming school year – Casey Buck, who will coach the outside linebackers.
Head coach Ben Speer made the announcement recently.
“He’s been here, him and his wife (Jodi) moved here,” Speer said. “We’re excited about coach Buck. (The Bucks) were wanting to get back to this area.”
Buck spent last season as the running backs and tight ends coach at Iowa Park High School on former head coach Bryan Wood’s staff where he also was the golf head coach and an assistant track coach. Wood was the Burnet football head coach from 2021 until the end of the 2023-24 academic year.
Before that, Buck was the running backs and tight ends coach at Wayland Baptist University in 2024, the same year Wood served as the offensive coordinator.
Buck played football for four years at Wayland Baptist and one year at Mary Hardin-Baylor. His first coaching job was at his other alma mater – Andrews Independent School District as an assistant football and basketball coach.
Speer, who followed Wood to Burnet as the defensive coordinator and then took over after he resigned, contacted his old boss to let him know the Bulldogs were in search of a defensive coach. Wood recommended Buck.
“He was really up on him,” Speer said. “If Wood says he’s a good coach and a great guy, then he’s definitely somebody we want to take a look at and try to get down here if it fits. And we’re fortunate that it fits.”
The current Bulldog skipper said that when Buck talks to his players, it’ll be from a position of knowledge that goes beyond simply watching film and attending lectures and clinics.
“He played the position,” Speer said. “He played it at the collegiate level. He was an all-conference player. Having that background in-depth does help. That doesn’t make you a great outside linebacker’s coach or any linebackers coach, but it sure helps that when you played that spot, you know what you look for, you know what you read, you know what things you saw, and you can relay that to the kids.”
The other component that helps? Speer installed the Iowa Park defense last year, a system Buck is familiar with already.
“He knows the defense of what we’ll run, the terminology,” he said. “He already knows it, and I can help him out on the little (things).”
Wood endorsed Speer to Buck.
“Coach Wood said, ‘I told him you’re going to be working with the best outside linebackers coach around,'” Speer recalled hearing. “That was him referring to me. I think anytime your mentor says that, it means a lot, and so I’m excited. And I can help him get up in whatever he needs. (Buck has) all the tangibles; he’s a hard worker and loves and brings the energy, and the kids will love him. And he’s not afraid to learn, not afraid to work hard.”
