BERKELEY — One of Casey Moreno’s best attributes is his ability to compartmentalize any situation and move forward.
Whether that’s making in-game adjustments or changes to his teaching plan, the St. Mary’s-Berkeley football coach is no stranger to adapting on the fly.
But when he got the call from his doctor four years ago, Moreno struggled to collect his thoughts.
“I always felt like cancer would never touch me,” Moreno said. “I think initially it was a shock, and then once I settled in that this is not a dream, I knew this was really happening. …
“I really was scared.”
Since 2020, Moreno, 57, has been battling an opponent tougher than any he has coached or played against: prostate cancer.
For four years, Moreno only told those in his inner circle about his diagnosis. For the football lifer, two things kept him going.
“The thing that I thought about was who was going to take care of my kids and I was afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to coach football anymore,” Moreno said.
After a long cancer journey, Moreno is happy to be back on the sidelines and coaching in his first season at St. Mary’s. He was deemed cancer-free this past July and hopes his story can inspire patients in similar positions.
“As a cancer survivor, I just want people to realize the highs and the lows,” Moreno said. “Every cancer is different and so is every process, but it’s extremely challenging.
“One thing I know for sure is that there is no way someone that has cancer should be by themselves and have to deal with it by themselves. One thing I could tell you is that people that are dealing with cancer are tough, but family members and friends can make the biggest difference. The people that we work with can make a huge difference in our lives, andI’m extremely blessed.”
St. Mary’s head coach Casey Moreno looks on from the sideline during the second half of their football game against Arroyo High at St. Mary’s High School in Albany, Calif., on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Moreno was a talented player before making his name as a coach. A 1985 graduate of Moreau Catholic, Moreno played for legendary high school football coach Tim Walsh. He went on to play collegiately at Sonoma State, where he was coached by future TCU coach Gary Patterson.
After his playing career ended, Moreno went right into coaching. His talents as a defensive play caller were noticed early on by some of the most respected coaches in the East Bay.
Paul Perenon, a former longtime head coach at Bishop O’Dowd and Mt. Eden, first met Moreno during a 1996 game when Moreno was the defensive coordinator at San Lorenzo High.
“I went over to him, put my hand out, shook his hand, and I said, ‘Coach I don’t know who you are, but you were a master tonight,’” Perenon said of his first conversation with Moreno. “I told him, ‘You’re going to make a name for yourself in this thing, and I look forward to matching wits with you and doing battle with you in the years to come.’”
Moreno would eventually get his first shot as head coach at San Lorenzo in 1997 and made head coaching stops at Hayward and Dublin in the 2000s. After he was let go from Dublin in 2011, Moreno rebuilt himself as a coach and took on jobs as a defensive coordinator back at San Lorenzo and at Granada.
Known for his ability to forge a connection with his players, Moreno got his first head coaching position in over a decade in 2023 when he took over for a talented but undisciplined College Park team.
His stint didn’t last long as he was let go after going 4-6 in his first and only season at the Pleasant Hill school. But when former St. Mary’s coach John Trottman left this past off-season to coach Castro Valley, the ideal job opened up for Moreno.
St. Mary’s head coach Casey Moreno looks on from the sideline duirng the second half of their football game against Arroyo High at St. Mary’s High School in Albany, Calif., on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
“I’m a man of faith and everything happens for a reason,” Moreno said. “I’m glad it didn’t work out (at College Park) because the opportunity to coach at St. Mary’s showed itself the rest is history. I’m where I belong.”
While his initial diagnosis showed his cancer was low-risk, Moreno had to take steps to change the way he approached his day-to-day routine.
When patients are diagnosed with prostate cancer, they often have to check their Gleason score regularly. According to the National Cancer Institute, a Gleason score is a “way of describing prostate cancer based on how abnormal the cancer cells in a biopsy sample look under a microscope and how quickly they are likely to grow and spread.” The Gleason score ranges from scores of 6 to 10.
Moreno’s Gleason score was a 6 during his initial diagnosis, meaning his cancer was low grade. But just like he prepares for an opponent on gameday, Moreno navigated cancer with the same attention to detail.
After talks with his doctor, Moreno decided the best strategy to continue coaching was to implore a strategy called active surveillance – a treatment plan that requires frequent testing and a biopsy at least once a year.
While receiving treatment, Moreno still had to find a way to prepare his teams each week and be a family man at home. Some days were tougher than others, but Moreno leaned on his longtime partner Michelle Allman for support.
Allman first met Moreno at Moreau, where they were high school sweethearts. They went separate ways after graduation, but reconnected after a high school reunion years back.
Throughout Moreno’s recovery, Allman was his rock. She was the one who kept him on track with his treatment and who could talk to Moreno about anything he was struggling with on any given day.
St. Mary’s head coach Casey Moreno gives instructions to quarterback Sutton Ralls (2) during the first half of their football game at St. Mary’s High School in Albany, Calif., on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
“It was a fine line that I was trying to balance,” Allman said. “You don’t want every day to go like, ‘Hey, so how was your prostate cancer?’ I wanted him to have some downtime and get lost in football, teaching and everything he loves. I didn’t want the cancer to be so consuming, even though you know it’s in the back of your mind. For me, it was just being that person to keep everything on track because he’s got enough going on.”
In July, right before the start of this season, Moreno opted to get his cancer removed through what is called a Da Vinci procedure. The Da Vinci procedure is a robotic-assisted surgery that helps surgeons perform surgical procedures more accurately.
“It wasn’t a fun process,” Moreno said. “There’s no way to prepare yourself for what that all is until you actually experience it. I felt like I got hit by a freight train. It was that bad when I woke up and just the recovery is a lot. You have to learn to live life a whole lot differently.”
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Moreno has come out of his cancer journey with a new perspective on life and coaching. The defensive specialist is still as old-school as they come, but he is too in love with the game to be pushed out by not changing his ways.
For years, Moreno never shared his cancer diagnosis with his teams, but has been more open about it with his players at St. Mary’s. Even in his first year with the team, players have already come to admire the longtime coach.
“He’s definitely persevered through a lot,” St. Mary’s quarterback Sutton Ralls said. “He’s been doing pretty well about not showing us weakness. You really can’t tell that there’s anything wrong with him.”
On the field, Moreno earned the respect of his contemporaries a long time ago. But after coming out of the last four years alive all while not missing a beat as a coach, he’ll have cemented his own unique legacy regardless of the wins and losses.
“I’ve seen him go through prostate cancer and some personal things in his life and he’s emerged better because of it,” Perenon said. “Casey is equivalent to those absolute masterminds that are great coaches. He’s a role model for kids and holds them to standards. He has the highest level of integrity, demanding kids match the expectation and not expecting anything less. I don’t think there’s a coach around that cares more about his players than Casey Moreno.”