LTG Robert L. Caslen Jr. relinquished command of the United States Military Academy at West Point on Friday, June 22nd, in ceremony held in the Eisenhower Hall Ballroom.

One of the requisites for accepting an assignment as superintendent of any of the three service academies is that they must retire at the end of their assignment; so Caslen will be ending his career in the Army as well. While the superintendent is responsible for virtually every aspect of academy life, for Army West Point football fans, he will be remembered as the superintendent who brought the Commander-in-Chiefs trophy back to West Point.

Caslen had been the center on the Army football team in 73 and 74, and when he assumed command at USMA, Army Chief of Staff Ray Ordierno, another former Army football player, assigned him a priority task of beating Navy. Caslen took his order to heart. In his second year at the helm he brought in a new head coach, Jeff Monken to execute the battle plan, and he sponsored several changes in the lives of cadet athletes that made Monken’s task a little easier. With his support, changes were made to the summer training schedule which allowed fall athletes to get an earlier start on their preparations for the fall season, and additional summer classes were added to trim the academic load during football season as well. He was instrumental in changing the basic financial structure of the Army Athletic Association to better support Army West Point athletics, and he helped athletic director Boo Coorigan find the resources needed to improve all athletic programs at West Point.

Perhaps the biggest change he made was to introduce the spirit of winning and the warrior ethic that manifested itself in all academy sports.

During his tenure, women’s lacrosse and men and women’s rugby were elevated to varsity level status and mens wrestling beat Navy for the first time in many years. Boxing was added to the physical education curriculum for women, and the boxing team won national championships. Caslen couldn’t be everywhere at once, but he was often seen on the sidelines of major sporting events rooting the cadets on to victory.

The rumor mill leads us to believe that Caslen’s successor is another former football player, and we can only hope that he will continue the winning tradition that Robert Caslen help bring back to West Point.

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