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As had been reported over the weekend, Missouri football head coach Eliah Drinkwitz is bringing in Zac Woodfin to run the strength and conditioning program, the school announced Thursday. Woodfin comes to Columbia after three years in Lawrence, Kansas, in the same role under former Jayhawks coach David Beatty and current coach Les Miles.
“It’s an unbelievable opportunity to serve Mizzou’s student-athletes, the staff and the program,” Woodfin said in a release from the school. “I’m excited to coach in the best conference in college football and coach for a man like Coach Drinkwitz. Every single aspect of this job fires me up and energizes me. I’m fortunate and blessed and I’m going to go above and beyond to do more than what is expected in order to help the program. I can’t wait to get going.”
Prior to taking on the role at Kansas, Woodfin spent three seasons as the head strength and conditioning coach at two different schools, spending a season at UAB (2014, when he was named the National Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year by FootballScoop) and two at Southern Miss (2015-16).
Woodfin broke into his field as a volunteer at UAB and Alabama, before spending four seasons with Athletes Performance in Los Angeles and three with the NFL’s Green Bay Packers as an assistant strength and conditioning coach.
“Zac brings energy, expertise and toughness to Mizzou,” Drinkwtiz said. “He’s played and developed players at the highest level and we can’t wait for him to get started with our program.”
With Woodfin’s hire, the staff continues to grow into its new look under Drinkwitz. Only Brick Haley, Ryan Walters and David Gibbs remain from Odom’s 2019 defensive staff, and Charlie Harbison and D.J. Smith moved with Drinkwitz from Appalachian State as defensive assistants.
Casey Woods and Curtis Luper were brought in on the offensive side of the ball from UAB and TCU, respectively, with Woods being hired as the tight ends coach and Luper’s specific role not yet announced. Erik Link was also hired to coach the special teams, a position left open by Andy Hill, who started as an assistant with the Tigers in 1996.