Phillip Perry "Sparky" Woods (born December 20, 1953) is an

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 ...

coach. He is a senior adviser for football team at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

. Woods served as the head football coach at

Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

from 1984 to 1988, the University of South Carolina from 1989 to 1993, and the

Virginia Military Institute la, Consilio et Animis (on seal) , mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal) , established = , type = Public senior military college , accreditation = SACS , endowment = $696.8 mill ...

(VMI), from 2008 to 2014.

Playing career

Woods attended Oneida High School, where he is in its Hall of Fame. He holds the record for the most interceptions in a season. He played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

at Carson–Newman College before graduating in 1976.

Coaching career

Woods was named the 30th head coach at VMI on February 13, 2008. Before arriving at VMI, Woods had over 30 years of college and professional coaching experience. When coaching at South Carolina, a song about Woods entitled "Sparky Rock" was released on cassette tape. On November 24, 2014, it was announced by VMI that Woods' contract would not be renewed by Athletic Director

Dave Diles David L. Diles (October 14, 1931 – December 29, 2009) was an American sports broadcaster and journalist, as well as an author. He was a broadcaster for ABC Sports and hosted the “Prudential College Football Scoreboard Show”. Early life Dav ...

. The announcement came less than a day after a 45–25 loss to arch rival

The Citadel The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a Public college, public United States senior military college, senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one ...

, ending a 2–10 season for the Keydets. In seven seasons, Woods compiled a 17–62 record at VMI, including a mark of 9–32 in conference play. On February 20, 2015, he was named running backs coach, recruiting coordinator, and associate head coach, at the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

. In 2019, Woods joined

Mack Brown William Mack Brown (born August 27, 1951) is an American college football coach. He is currently in his second stint as the head football coach for the University of North Carolina, where he first coached from 1988 until departing in 1997, whe ...

's staff at the

as a senior adviser to Brown.

Head coaching record

Personal life

Woods and his wife, Jean Ann, have two children, a daughter, Emily, and a son, Casey who is on the

SMU football Educational institutions * St. Martin's University, Lacey, Washington, United States * St. Matthew's University, the Cayman Islands * St. Michaels University School, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada * Saint Monica University, Cameroon * Samuel ...

staff.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Sparky 1953 births Living people Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches Appalachian State Mountaineers football coaches Carson–Newman Eagles football players Iowa State Cyclones football coaches Kansas Jayhawks football coaches Memphis Tigers football coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches New York Jets coaches North Alabama Lions football coaches North Carolina Tar Heels football coaches Richmond Spiders football coaches South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches Tennessee Volunteers football coaches Virginia Cavaliers football coaches VMI Keydets football coaches People from Scott County, Tennessee