Ray Woodard (born August 20, 1961) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

and former head football coach at

Lamar University Lamar University (Lamar or LU) is a public university in Beaumont, Texas. Lamar has been a member of the Texas State University System since 1995. It was the flagship institution of the former Lamar University System. As of the fall of 2021, th ...

. He was hired on May 19, 2008 to resurrect the Lamar Cardinals football program that was discontinued in 1989. Woodard played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Kilgore College Kilgore College (KC) is a public community college in Kilgore, Texas. It has an annual enrollment in excess of 5,000 students and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award the associate deg ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, was selected 199th overall in the

1984 NFL Draft The 1984 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 1–2, 1984, at the Omni Park Cent ...

. He spent the next five seasons with the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

and

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

. He was a member of the Broncos' 1986 AFC Champion and Super Bowl team. Woodard received his bachelor's degree in kinesiology and history from

Sam Houston State University Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...

in 1988. He received his masters in education from the

University of Texas at Tyler The University of Texas at Tyler (UT Tyler) is a public research university in Tyler, Texas. Founded in 1971, it is a part of the University of Texas System. UT Tyler consists of five professional colleges and one traditional college of arts and ...

in 1991. On October 23, 2014, Ray Woodard earned his Doctorate in Educational Leadership from

. He joined a select group of Division I coaches with doctorates. Including Woodard, there were six Division I coaches with a doctorate at the time he received his doctorate. One of those six was an honorary doctorate. Woodard was also one of three Division I (FCS) coaches with a doctorate.

Coaching career

Professional teams

Woodard coached with several professional teams, starting with the Texas Terror of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

in 1996, and then the

Frankfurt Galaxy Two American football franchises have been referred to as the Frankfurt Galaxy: * Frankfurt Galaxy (NFL Europe), active in NFL Europe between 1991 and 2007 * Frankfurt Galaxy (ELF) The Frankfurt Galaxy is an American football team in Frankfurt, ...

of the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

(WLAF) in 1997. In 1999, he served as head coach of the

Houston Outlaws The Houston Outlaws are an American professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in Houston, Texas. The Outlaws compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017, Houston Outlaws is one of the leag ...

of the short-lived

Regional Football League The Regional Football League (RFL) was an american football minor league formed to be the self-styled "major league of spring football." Established in 1997, the league played a single season, 1999, and then ceased operations. History The RFL se ...

. In 2000, he was the head coach for the

Houston Marshals The Houston Marshals were a professional football team based in Houston, Texas that played in the Spring Football League in 2000. The Marshals were coached by former Denver Broncos player Ray Woodard. They played their home games at Robertson St ...

of the

Spring Football League The Spring Football League (SFL) was a short lived professional american football minor league that existed for only one season in 2000. Spring football Founded by several ex-NFL players such as Eric Dickerson, Drew Pearson, Bo Jackson, an ...

. Woodard later served as the defensive coordinator for the

Scottish Claymores The Scottish Claymores were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed NFL Europe) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, E ...

of the WLAF from 2000 to 2003.

Navarro College

From 2005 to 2007, Woodard spent his time coaching at

Navarro College Navarro College is a public community college in Texas with its main campus in Corsicana and branches in Fairfield, Mexia, Midlothian, and Waxahachie. The college has an annual student enrollment of more than 9,000 students. The Corsica ...

, a two-year college whose main campus is in

Corsicana, Texas Corsicana is a city in Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 56 miles northeast of Waco, Texas. The population was 23,770 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Navarro County, and an important Agri-busines ...

. His first two seasons at Navarro were spent as a defensive coordinator and as head coach in his last season. His 2007 squad went 9–3 and advanced to the conference playoffs for the first time in six seasons. Navarro defeated defending national champion

Blinn College Blinn College is a public junior college in Brenham, Texas, with additional campuses in Bryan, Schulenburg, and Sealy. Brenham is Blinn's main campus, with dormitories and apartments. History Blinn was established as Mission Institute in 1 ...

on consecutive weeks before rolling past

— the

Southwest Junior College Football Conference The Southwest Junior College Football Conference (SWJCFC) is a football conference for National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) teams located in the Southwestern United States. The conference has produced 5 of the last 15 NJCAA national ...

(SWJCFC) regular-season champion — on the road, 54–28, to earn the school's first bowl bid since the 1990s. Navarro claimed a 24–21 win over

Georgia Military College Georgia Military College (GMC) is a public military junior college in Milledgeville, Georgia. It is divided into the junior college, a military junior college program, high school, middle school, and elementary school. It was originally known as M ...

in the Pilgrim's Pride Bowl to finish the year ranked fourth in the NJCAA national poll. For his efforts, Woodard was named the SWJCFC Coach of the Year. Navarro ranked third nationally in total offense (444.6 yards per game), fourth in rushing offense (250.5 ypg) and 16th in passing offense (194.2 ypg), while scoring a school-record 428 points for an average of 35.7 per game in 2007.

Lamar University

In 2008,

hired Ray Woodard to help bring football back to Lamar after an almost 20-year absence. The Lamar Cardinals football team played their first season in 2010 under coach Woodard. That season, the Cardinals went 5–6 as Division I independents. The Cardinals began football competition in the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

FCS

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it pa ...

the following year. On November 21, 2016 at approximately 1:30pm, Woodard was informed he was no longer head coach for Lamar.

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodard, Ray 1961 births Living people American football defensive tackles Denver Broncos players Frankfurt Galaxy coaches Houston Thunderbears coaches Kansas City Chiefs players Kilgore Rangers football players Lamar Cardinals football coaches Scottish Claymores coaches Texas Longhorns football players High school football coaches in Texas Junior college football coaches in the United States Lamar University alumni Sam Houston State University alumni University of Texas at Tyler alumni People from Lufkin, Texas Players of American football from Texas Navarro Bulldogs football coaches National Football League replacement players