Coach Woody leads MX to Joe Lang Bowl NEPSAC Championship

An interview with the new football coach.

Source: https://x.com/coachwoody7 

Scott Woodward, widely known as Coach Woody around campus, joins the Middlesex community this fall for the first time with great anticipation for the upcoming football season, taking over the head coach position of the football team. Scott Woodward comes to Middlesex having coached college football for fourteen years, nine of which were spent at the Division 1 level at University of Massachusetts, Pittsburgh University, and University of Kentucky. But, Coach Woody is quick to notice the many roles he plays at Middlesex that seem to be a breath of fresh air, all while leading a winning football team. 

In his most recent role at the University of Kentucky, Coach Woody was working “100 hour weeks, and during the off season traveling six out of the seven days in the week for recruiting.” Coach Woody explains that Middlesex offers a “slower paced” lifestyle for him, allowing him to coach football but without letting the sport “ruin his life” like it did at Kentucky. 

Now, Coach Woody has the time to pursue his other interests in addition to leading the football team. Coach Woody says he enjoys the option to eat “breakfast, lunch and dinner with his family,” and can spend more time with his son, James, who often watches practices and games with the team. Coach Woody also tries to make time to golf with friends, and he looks forward to coaching the thirds golf team in the spring. 

Coming into Middlesex, Coach Woody expected that he would only get to know the football team, but he has since come to appreciate the other areas in which he supports the community. Coach Woody has developed a passion for helping the eight students he works with under Molly Gerrity in the academic support center, and Coach Woody also sees Atkins House as another home, greeting “32 kids in Atkins every week.”

Central to Coach Woody’s coaching philosophy is the idea that teammates “will match the leader's energy, and if I am the leader of this team I need to come out with energy to be positive, have a smile on my face… and that can go a long way.” Perhaps contributing to this season’s drastic rise in fortune is Coach Woody’s “T.E.A.M.” acronym, which stands for “Toughness, Effort, Attitude, and Middlesex.” While this mantra is based on the football team, the message permeates the entire Middlesex community, already feeling the positivity of Scott Woodward’s vision despite the year having just begun.

Ian King