George Fox University Men's Football

Casey has led the program, nine players have received All-Northwest Conference honors and two players have been named to the D3football.com National Team of the Week.  The fan-support is tremendous, said Casey. Our players and coaches speak often about how much our crowd energizes us and that we feel there is a real bond between our players and fans. The Bruins have led the conference in attendance in both of its seasons with more than 1,000 season tickets sold in each year, and sellout crowds nearly every game. Casey was selected from a national pool of candidates and was announced as the Bruins new coach in spring of 2012. The move to college head coach marked a homecoming for Casey, who grew up only a block from the George Fox campus in Newberg, Ore. His ties to the community include serving as a ball boy for the Bruin football program in the late 1960s and graduating from Newberg High School in 1976. His younger brother, Pat Casey, later served as head baseball coach at George Fox (1988-94) before taking the top baseball job at Oregon State University. Another brother, Brian, serves as Newbergs police chief. Casey guided Aloha to the Oregon High School Class 6A championship in 2010. Before he arrived at the school in 2004, the Warriors had won only 17 games in the previous 14 seasons, and their playoff appearance in 2009 ended a 22-year postseason drought. He completed his run at Aloha with the 2012 football season. Previously, Casey served as an assistant football coach, recruiting coordinator and baseball coach at his alma mater, Linfield College (1985-94), and as an assistant football coach and strength/conditioning coach at Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash. (1994-2004). He was also an assistant football, wrestling and baseball coach at The Dalles High School (1982-85). Caseys self-described blue collar coaching style emphasizes hard work and dedication, total commitment to the team, and embracing opportunity over obligation. He seeks to transform the lives of the student athletes who join his program into men who will live their lives to excellence in all areas -- in their jobs, in their churches and in their families. Having been a part of collegiate athletics for 22 years as a player and coach, Ive experienced the importance of academics and athletics and the roles they play in developing young people, said Casey. Im thoroughly impressed with (George Fox President) Robin Bakers commitment to the football program. Its a tremendous opportunity to be a part of something that has infused enthusiasm on the campus, among our alumni, and in the Newberg community. Prior to his coaching career, Casey played football for Linfield from 1978 to 1981. He also played the sport at Mt. Hood Community College (1976-78) and suited up for football, track, basketball and baseball at Newberg High (1972-76). Everywhere Chris has gone, the program has risen hes a winner, said George Fox director of athletics Craig Taylor. In his 10 years at Whitworth, the team went from one of the worst in the conference to a league title. He did the same at Aloha, taking a down-and-out program all the way to a state championship. What really impressed us is the fact that he invests in his players and has high expectations of them academically. Coaching is more than just about football to him. Hes a man youd want your son to be around.

Sanders joined Coach Casey at Aloha (Ore.) High School from 2005-2012, serving as the special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach for eight years, defensive backs coach for seven, and linebackers coach for one.  He position-coached 22 all-league players and three all-state players.  He was a part of the Aloha staff which captured the Oregon 6A state championship in 2010.   A graduate of Whitworth with a bachelor of arts in sociology, Sanders and his wife Natalie have two children: Holden, age 12, and Sloan, age 9.

Smiths family relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he played both running back and linebacker for Radford High School.  He played at Linfield College, where Chris Casey was the defensive ends coach and Ken Ingram, now an assistant coach for the Bruins, was his teammate.  Smith earned his degree in computer science from Linfield in 1991 and has worked for the last 10 years as a software analyst for Daimler Trucks North America.  He and his college sweetheart, Christy, a teacher at Mabel Rush Elementary School in Newberg, have been married for 22 years. The Smiths have three children who are all students at Newberg High: son Evan and twin daughters Alanna and Brenna.

Ingram won a state 5A championship of his own in 2009 as the head coach of the Hillsboro (Ore.) High team, which he directed through the 2012 season before accepting his new position at George Fox. While at Hillsboro, he was one of the coaches for the annual Les Schwab Bowl high school all-star game in 2010 and 2011. Ingram began his coaching career with three stints as an assistant at Linfield College (1988, 1990-91, 1993). He was the offensive line coach at Sul Ross State University from 1994-95 and Millsaps College from 1998-99. He moved to Texas Lutheran University from 1998-2001 to be the defensive line coach and special teams coordinator for two years, defensive coordinator for one year and offensive coordinator his last year.  A graduate of Hillsboro High, Ingram received his bachelor of science degree in kinesiology from Linfield in 1988. He and his wife Stacy have three children: Isaiah, Shawna Ashley and Ian.

Lukkes Gilgan joined the Bruin coaching staff in March of 2025, serving as the defensive coordinator for Fox. Gilgan comes to the Bruins after nine seasons as the defensive coordinator at NWC rival Pacific University, also spending five years as the Assistant Head Coach for the Boxers.  In Gilgans time in Forest Grove, the Boxers had some of the best in program history, with Jack Perez being named NWC Defensive Player of the Year in 2016, as well as becoming the first Boxer to be named All-American honors. In 2024, the Boxers had three First Team, the Second Team, and two Honorable Mention All-NWC players on defense.  In addition to his duties at Pacific, he has been involved with USA Football. In January 2019, he led the 2019 United States Under-19 Select Team as Head Coach against Team Nuevo Leon, an Under-19 team of top players across Mexico as part of the 10th annual International Bowl Series at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. In 2018 he was selected as the Defensive Coordinator for the 2019 United States Under-19 Select Team against Team Nordic, an under-19 team made up of the top players across Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.  Prior to his time with the Boxers, Gilgan spent one season as a graduate assistant coach at the University of New Mexico. In 2014, he was accepted that year to the NFL-NCAA Coaches Academy, where he was one of just 30 coaches nationwide accepted to the program. He also was selected for the AFCA 30 Under 30 Future Football Coaches Academy in 2013. Gilgan was a four-year letterwinner at Willamette.  He was a team captain, earned First Team All-NWC honors in 2009 and received the teams James Scarriot Strongest Link award.

Bates remained at his alma mater to begin his coaching career as an assistant in 2000-01, primarily coaching linebackers. In 2001, Whitworth won the Northwest Conference crown and made the NCAA Division III playoffs, the Pirates first postseason appearance in 25 years. He completed a master of education degree in secondary education from Whitworth in 2006.  Bates and his wife Dana, a health and human performance professor at George Fox who serves as the director of the athletic training education program, reside in Carlton, Ore. They have two children: Ryan, age 10, and Alexandra, age 6.