Coach Joe Woodley

“We were competitive but we looked out for one another”

There is always a lot of talk about coaching trees, especially when it comes to college football. In Iowa, we often hear about Hayden Fry’s incredible legacy with his 1980s Hawkeye football coaching staffs but those guys all had different last names. The Woodley Tree is pretty much synonymous with coaching in Iowa as Mike and his sons have led programs in central and eastern Iowa with a great deal of success. One of those Woodley boys invited Tim into the Grand View football offices recently to talk about a life in coaching. 

Joe Woodley is a former Iowa State Cyclone and currently one of the top NAIA football coaches in the country. Since taking over the Grand View University Viking football team from his dad, who started the program, Woodley has won as the same number coach of the year awards as games lost. The Vikings are currently on the longest bye week in sports history, sitting at 6-0 and waiting to finish their regular season this spring. Woodley looks at this long break as a unique opportunity and a special carrot dangling at the end of the spring ball practices. 

Woodley has been with Grand View since 2008 and has served as both offensive and defensive coordinator before taking over for his dad, Mike Woodley, who left to start another NAIA football program at Mount Marty University in South Dakota. As a coordinator, Woodley led one of the top squads on both sides of the ball in the nation over the course of the last decade. 

Before patrolling the sidelines for St. Ambrose University, Johnston High School, and Grand View, Woodley was a tough nosed fullback and linebacker for the Valley Tigers. He was named the CIML player of the year in 1998. After a very successful high school career, Joe joined his dad at Iowa State and played both offense and defense for the Cyclones. Woodley played from 1999-2003 and went to three bowl games, serving as a captain his senior year.

Joe Woodley has countless stories from his life spent in sports. Growing up a coach’s son as the youngest of 4 brothers. And now, Joe, Brian, Matt, and Andy are all on their own paths following in Mike Woodley’s footsteps as coaches. Joe has his Grand View Vikings set to pick up where they left off this fall in pursuit of another playoff run and a second national championship.

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