Scott Woodward is currently the

athletics director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and university, universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of c ...

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

(LSU). Woodward was previously Director of Athletics at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

from 2008 to 2016 and at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

from 2016 to 2019.

Early life, education and career

Woodward is from

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...

and is a 1981 alumnus of

Catholic High School Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

in Baton Rouge. He attended college at

earning a bachelor's degree in political science in 1985. After graduating from LSU, Woodward was a co-owner of a government and public relations firm in Baton Rouge that provided strategic policy direction to Fortune 500 corporations. In 2000, Woodward was hired by LSU Chancellor

Mark Emmert Mark Allen Emmert (born December 16, 1952) is the current president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. He is the fifth CEO of the NCAA; he was named as the incoming president on April 27, 2010, and assumed his duties on November 1, ...

to serve as the Director of External Affairs at Louisiana State University. The position entailed being a liaison between LSU and government and corporate officials and acting as an advisor to Chancellor Emmert on policy and government appropriations. At LSU, Woodward also served as the Chancellor's Representative to the Athletic Department. He held these positions at LSU until leaving for the University of Washington in 2004. Woodward was hired by the new President of the University of Washington, Mark Emmert, for the position of Vice President of External Affairs. He served in this role until 2008.

Athletic director career

Washington

In January 2008, Woodward was named the full-time Director of Athletics at the

. He had been both acting Director of Athletics and Vice President of External Affairs since the previous Director of Athletics, Todd Turner, resigned in December 2007. In Woodward's first year at Washington, the athletic department budget faced a $2.8 million shortfall causing the elimination of both men's and women's swimming programs. Also during his first year, the football team went 0–12 and Woodward fired head coach

Tyrone Willingham Lionel Tyrone Willingham (born December 30, 1953) is a former American football player and coach. He was the head coach at Stanford University (1995–2001), the University of Notre Dame (2002–2004), and the University of Washington (2005–2 ...

in October 2008. Woodward's tenure with Washington will be noted for hiring head football coach

Steve Sarkisian Stephen Sarkisian (born March 8, 1974)Stephens, Ken. – "QB GENEALOGY – Steve Sarkisian is latest in long line of talented BYU quarterbacks". – FUN FACT, Sarkisian’s father is actually Texas Tech Head Coach, Joey McGuire. ''Dallas Mo ...

and later luring

Chris Petersen Christopher Scott Petersen (born October 13, 1964) is a former American football coach who was most recently the head coach at the University of Washington. Previously the head coach for eight seasons at Boise State University, Petersen guided ...

from Boise State along with a $282 million reconstruction of Husky Stadium that was completed in 2013. Washington's athletic budget stabilized during his tenure with revenues boosted in part by the Pac-12 Conference's television-rights deals and by naming-rights deals the athletic department signed with Alaska Airlines. In addition, contributions to the athletic department more than doubled, from about $12.6 million in 2008 to $26.6 million by 2013. During Woodward's tenure at Washington, the Huskies won seven national championships in the sports of men's and women's crew, women's cross country and softball.

Texas A&M

In January 2016, Woodward was named Director of Athletics at

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. During his tenure, Woodward helped build the profile of Texas A&M. He hired two high-profile coaches in

Jimbo Fisher John James "Jimbo" Fisher Jr. (born October 9, 1965) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies Football, Texas A&M Aggies. Previously, Fisher was the head coach at Florida State Seminol ...

from

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

to be the Aggies’ football coach in December 2017 and he hired

Buzz Williams Brent Langdon "Buzz" Williams (born September 1, 1972) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach at Texas A&M University. He previously served as head coach at Virginia Tech from 2014 to 2019, Marquette from 2008 to 2014, and New O ...

from

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

to be Texas A&M's new men's basketball coach on April 3, 2019. In addition, a new track and field stadium and softball stadium were built. During Woodward's tenure at Texas A&M, every sports team participated in postseason play. The Aggies won nine SEC titles including baseball, men's basketball, soccer, women's swimming and diving (three times), men's tennis (twice) and men's outdoor track and field.

LSU

On April 18, 2019, LSU alumnus Woodward was named

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

athletics director, replacing

Joe Alleva Joseph Louis Alleva (born c. 1952) is the former athletics director at Louisiana State University and Duke University. Duke Alleva began as athletic director in 1998. Alleva hired three football coaches in his 11 years: Carl Franks, Ted Roof, and ...

. In 2021, he hired former Baylor head women's basketball coach

Kim Mulkey Kimberly Duane Mulkey (born May 17, 1962) is an American college basketball player and coach. She is the head coach for Louisiana State University's women's basketball team. A Pan-American gold medalist in 1983 and Olympic gold medalist in 1984, ...

. He then hired the up and comer coach Jay Johnson from Arizona to coach the Tiger baseball team. Following the departure of

Ed Orgeron Edward James Orgeron Jr. (; born July 27, 1961) is an American football coach. He was most recently the head football coach at Louisiana State University (LSU), a position he held from midway through the 2016 season until the 2021 season. Orge ...

as head football coach, Woodward led the search that led to the record-breaking hiring of Brian Kelly from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

after the 2021 season.

Personal life

Woodward is married to Nanette Dicharry and has two sons, Michael and Josh Evans.

References

External links

LSU bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodward, Scott Living people LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers athletic directors Texas A&M Aggies athletic directors Washington Huskies athletic directors Louisiana State University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)