Why Iowas LeVar Woods is one of college footballs best and most beloved assistants

IOWA CITY, Iowa Dejected with his football career at a crossroads, George Kittle entered his fourth season at Iowa facing multiple ankle surgeries and sitting at least third on the depth chart. At that moment, Iowa assistant LeVar Woods shifted from outside linebackers to tight ends. It was a major change for the Hawkeyes;

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Dejected with his football career at a crossroads, George Kittle entered his fourth season at Iowa facing multiple ankle surgeries and sitting at least third on the depth chart.

At that moment, Iowa assistant LeVar Woods shifted from outside linebackers to tight ends. It was a major change for the Hawkeyes; Woods had never coached on offense, and the program usually had graduate assistants leading tight ends. It was this move that changed Kittle’s life and altered the trajectory of Iowa football.

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“Honestly, I didn’t have a ton of fun in football,” Kittle said. “When I got him as a tight ends coach, he just kind of rigged out of that fire for me and it completely changed my mindset. He definitely pushed me back in the right direction and allowed me to start making plays and taking advantage of the opportunities that were in front of me.”

Woods provided a new beginning for his tight ends. No matter how they performed for his predecessor, Woods wanted them all to feel comfortable. It wasn’t going to be easy, but it would be fair and he would believe in them. That’s what Kittle needed to hear. That’s what he hears now in their conversations.

“He’s one of my closest friends,” Kittle said. “I love him. LeVar has been one of the most important people in my football career.”

Eight years later, Kittle is a perennial Pro Bowl tight end with the San Francisco 49ers. Woods, 45, is considered one of college football’s top assistant coaches.

He since has moved from tight ends — where he also coached NFL first-rounders T.J. Hockenson and Noah Fant — to special teams coordinator at Iowa. Woods’ special teams resume includes two Big Ten returners of the year (Charlie Jones, Ihmir Smith-Marsette), two top kickers (Keith Duncan, Caleb Shudak) and the league’s top punter (Tory Taylor). Last year, Taylor was a first-team All-American, while Duncan was a consensus All-American in 2019. Smith-Marsette ranks second in Big Ten history in kickoff return yardage, and kicker Drew Stevens was named a freshman All-American last year.

Coach Woods deserves a lot of the credit for sure. @keithdunc3 & my K Coach @DanOrnerKicking do too. But Coach Woods is cool as ice. My brother calls him Vin Diesel's bigger brother with more talent. I call him a "Fine" man. He'll get what I mean. 🤣 @LeVarWoods

— Drew Stevens (@DrewTS7) June 28, 2021

Each of the players have different levels of personality and background. Kittle, Smith-Marsette and Duncan are extroverts, while Shudak is reserved. Taylor is a 25-year-old Australian, and Stevens was a true freshman who looked like a middle-schooler before packing on 30 pounds this offseason.

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On a random Wednesday in early June, Woods met with potential recruits throughout much of the day. During a break, he took a call from Duncan, who runs his own kicking school in the Des Moines area. A few minutes later, Woods walked to the special teams meeting room and Stevens was inside.

“He’s honestly just a players’ coach,” Duncan said, “and he’s pretty good at what he does, obviously. He’s a great person, a great coach, and I could go on and on about him.”

Like with Kittle, Duncan and Shudak faced adversities that could have led to exits without Woods. Duncan was the starting kicker in 2016 and drilled the game-winning field goal to upset No. 2 Michigan. He then lost his position for two seasons before regaining it in 2019. Before the 2020 season, Shudak entered the transfer portal. Woods persuaded him to stay and found him a scholarship. In 2021, Shudak became one of the nation’s top kickers. He’s now on the Tennessee Titans’ roster.

Woods said in 2020 he would “cry literal tears” if Shudak transferred. “That really meant a lot,” the kicker responded.

🚨 IT'S GOOD! 🚨@HawkeyeFootball's @keithdunc3, the second and final current player to earn #BTNAllDecade recognition, is the K of the 2010s.

More: https://t.co/tJBP1RNQRm pic.twitter.com/8bJAsvvEPI

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) July 3, 2020

Building relationships

So, what makes Woods so relatable? It starts with building relationships and filling a void.

Woods’ first task in 2015 was to invite his tight ends to his home for an introduction. He and his wife, Meghann, opted for pizza as an icebreaker.

“I’m brand new with them,” he said. “They had never been over to a coach’s house. They’ve always had a graduate assistant as their position coach. ‘Well, what do you guys like? Whatever pizza you want, I don’t care.’ ‘What about the Wig & Pen? It’s like really expensive.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s no problem.’”

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“They were so happy to have Wig & Pen pizza,” Meghann Woods said. “I guess I remember I couldn’t afford that in college, either. They were so excited to be here, and they were so excited to be with LeVar.”

Woods keeps in touch with dozens, perhaps hundreds, of former players for life updates and birthday wishes. When the college season concludes, he regularly takes one of his children on a road trip to watch a former player. Often it’s Kittle. Sometimes it’s his first Iowa protégé, linebacker Christian Kirksey.

But Woods stays in contact with more than just the NFL stars. In 2015, Jake Duzey was in line to become Iowa’s next NFL star tight end. Late in spring football, Duzey tore the patella tendon in his knee. He barely saw action during the season. Then Duzey reinjured the knee in a Rose Bowl practice. He never achieved his NFL dream.

“I got a year to play with him but never really got to play,” Duzey said. “He was constant support and always made sure I kept my head up. Who knows, I’d be lost without that guy, too. To this day, he reaches out and sees how everything is going. He helped me look for jobs, trying to make sure that I’d be OK without football.”

It’s not that Woods has an outsized personality. In fact, it’s the opposite. He’s understated and calm. Professional and personable. His ability to lead comes from his background as a former starter at multiple positions at Iowa, then as a seven-year NFL vet who made his living on special teams. He understands the sting of defeat and the prolonged pain of injuries. He also knows the joy of overcoming adversity to achieve personal and team goals. Some players are drawn to him as a father figure. Woods reciprocates because he grew up without one.

Woods was born in Cleveland in 1978 to parents who were medics in the Vietnam War. His parents split up when he was young, and his mother moved Woods and his younger sister to Iowa’s far northwest corner near Sioux Falls, S.D. They moved regularly, but his mother was always there for him. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t want his father, whom he met only at his high school graduation.

He has dealt with those feelings throughout his life. Woods has three children — college sophomore Sydney, high school junior Mason and fifth-grader Whitney. During Sydney’s final season of high school volleyball, Woods rearranged schedules to ensure he didn’t miss any of her matches, whether they were 2 miles up the road at Iowa City West or 90 miles away in Dubuque.

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“I don’t want to miss out on anything,” he said, fighting through emotion. “My mom was there for everything. My dad was not, and he had plenty of opportunities to be there. I don’t ever want my kids to say that I wasn’t there. They know I work a job where I’m not always around, but I don’t ever want them to say I missed something that was really important to them. So whether I’m a good dad or not, I have no idea. I just know I try to show up.”

This fall will be difficult for Woods with Mason playing games on Friday nights when college coaches have player meetings and recruiting responsibilities. Iowa has offered Mason Woods a scholarship, though — he is considered one of the state’s top 2025 prospects.

“He’s a great dad,” Meghann said. “I think it makes it hard that his job takes him away for so much of it because he does hate missing all the things.”

There are times when Woods’ efforts lead to discussions that sound a bit like lectures to his children, especially Mason, but they come from a good place.

“It was my mom that played football with me,” LeVar Woods said. “My mom hit baseballs with me. It was my mom that did all the stuff when she could. My mom also worked 60, 80 hours a week. She was phenomenal. But all I ever really wanted was a dad.

“I heard some of that’s probably filling voids.”

Next step: Head coach?

Woods joined Iowa’s football program as a player in 1996. After redshirting for a year, he saw limited action early, then became a stalwart amid the transition from Hayden Fry to Kirk Ferentz. As a senior, Woods became a team captain and an honorable mention All-Big Ten linebacker. He also met Meghann Hunt, the daughter of Lawrence Hunt, who was a first-team All-Big Eight defensive tackle at Iowa State in 1973. Her godfather is Cyclones great Matt Blair, a six-time Pro Bowler with the Minnesota Vikings. Yet, Meghann had little interest in the sport.

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“I grew up around football and going to football,” she said. “I didn’t enjoy watching because it was probably always on TV. I just got used to it.”

That changed when they started dating. In 2001, they were married in Ames and spent their honeymoon in Iowa City. Woods had to train for the NFL, while Meghann worked two jobs at the time.

After going undrafted, LeVar Woods spent seven seasons in the NFL. (Stephen Dunn / Getty Images)

Undrafted, Woods signed a free-agent contract with the Arizona Cardinals. He played four years with the Cardinals and primarily saw action on special teams. In 2003, Woods was named a finalist for the Walter Payton Man of the Year with his charity work. He later played for Detroit, Chicago and Tennessee. In 88 games over seven years, Woods finished with 168 tackles.

When his NFL career concluded, Woods had options. He had a real estate license and spent time in the NFL’s executive and entrepreneurship programs. To figure out the family’s next step, they moved back to Iowa City. Woods signed on as an administrative assistant and helped with recruiting visits. That lasted four years. He filled in as a linebackers coach in 2010 when defensive coordinator Norm Parker was hospitalized. Then in 2012, Woods was elevated to linebackers and special teams assistant.

“Going to the office every day, I think the bug just kind of bit him,” Meghann said. “It just kind of happened naturally. I think he gravitated toward it.”

Under Woods, individual players have improved — as proved by their accolades — but no unit of Iowa football has made more strides than special teams. In Woods’ first year as special teams coordinator, Iowa ranked 62nd nationally in special teams efficiency, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index. The past four years, the Hawkeyes ranked fourth three times and sixth once. No team nationally has ranked that highly more than twice over that span.

In '20 among P5 #collegefootball teams, @HawkeyeFootball had highest rated Special Teams unit by our ranking & @TexasTechFB had lowest rating. Take a look at the impact of space. 49% of the #Hawkeyes' offensives drives started at the 30 or better compared to 29% for #TexasTech. pic.twitter.com/BqluXl3hg0

— SportSource Analytics (@SportSourceA) February 28, 2021

Starters fight to compete for roles on Woods’ units. Butkus Award-winning linebacker Jack Campbell demanded to play on the punt team. First-team All-Big Ten cornerback Cooper DeJean has become one of the best gunners in program history. Even more, scholarship players and walk-ons who don’t appear on a depth chart take pride in becoming critical special-teamers.

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Among the many examples includes Henry Marchese, who never made the two-deep. In his final two regular-season games in 2021, Marchese sprung Jones with a key block on a 100-yard kickoff return. The next week, Marchese blocked a punt for a touchdown. The Hawkeyes trailed by double digits in both games and won them both.

“LeVar has really worked hard at it,” Ferentz said. “Part of that job is to get players to understand how important they are. A guy like Henry, you’re not playing on offense, not playing defense, where you can maybe find a role on special teams and take pride and help the team win.

“LeVar has really grown into that role, really embraced it. That’s how he made his living in the NFL, being a good special teams player. So he can fully appreciate the value of it.”

Woods also has become one of Iowa’s most proficient recruiters. His experience as one of only two biracial students (he and his sister) in a rural high school helps him relate to young Black players from metro areas moving to Iowa. Likewise, he is comfortable understanding small-town players who view Iowa City as a large community.

In The Athletic’s Iowa Recruiting Confidential in 2022, which asked six high school coaches throughout the state about recruiting, Woods received rave reviews. Coaches from central Illinois, Omaha, Neb., and the Dallas Metroplex have expressed the same opinions.

In 2020, Woods traveled to Australia to sign Taylor, who was training at Pro Kick Australia. Woods’ laidback personality immediately put Taylor’s family at ease.

“The moment I met him, he made me feel really comfortable,” Taylor said. “He’s one of the best people I’ve ever met, and he pushes us every day.”

With his on-field prowess coupled with the personal anecdotes, it seems Woods has more to offer beyond a coordinator position. The 247Sports coach rating index ranked Woods sixth among college football’s coaches. The organization’s list included head coaches and assistants.

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It begs the question: What does Woods’ future hold?

“I want to be a head coach someday,” he said. “Whether it’s college or pro, I don’t know. Right now, I’m in the season of life where I’m with my kids, and this year, we had a really tough decision to make. It felt like it was best for the family that we’re going to do this here at Iowa.

“If I wasn’t coaching here, I could see myself going high school, and I could see myself going to the NFL. Aspiration-wise, I’m not totally sure, in that regard. But I’ve thought about this before: Could I coach at another school? I certainly could, as long as the people were right, the place was right. I don’t know if it would mean the same.”

(Top photo: Matthew Holst / Getty Images)

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