Jan. 12, 2009
LOGAN, Utah -
Utah State head football coach Gary Andersen completed his full time staff with the hiring of T.J. Woods to be the tight ends coach, Andersen announced Monday.
"I'm extremely excited for the opportunity to coach with Gary Andersen. What he accomplished at Utah was extraordinary. I look forward to continuing the success here at Utah State," Woods said. "I'm extremely honored to be part of this community and Utah State University."
Woods comes to USU from New Mexico, where he spent two seasons along side current Aggies offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin where he was in the same position.
"He's been involved with Coach Baldwin's offense for a number of years, and we want someone who is familiar with the spread offense that we're going to run here at Utah State," Andersen said. "Coach Woods is a great recruiter. He's from the Southern California area having grown up there and played there so that will be his recruiting area and will use his ties to recruit some high-caliber players to Utah State."
Andersen's USU staff is complete with Woods' hiring, who joins Baldwin, Alex Gerke (offensive line), Ilaisa Tuiaki (pronounced E-lye-sa Too-ee-ah-kee) (running backs) and Kevin McGiven (quarterbacks) for the offense. The Aggies' defensive staff was finalized last month, with Bill Busch (defensive coordinator), Kevin Clune (linebackers), Chad Kauha'aha'a (pronounced Cow-ha-a-ha-a) (defensive line) and John Rushing (cornerbacks). Rushing is the only member retained from the previous USU staff.
While at New Mexico, Woods mentored junior center Erik Cook, who earned second-team all-Mountain West Conference honors and is considered to be a pro-prospect, as well as offensive tackle Byron Bell, who was named to the 2008 CollegeFootballNews.com All-Freshman team.
Last season, Woods coached center Vince Natali and offensive tackle Devin Clark, who both garnered first team all-MWC accolades.
Woods was an assistant coach at Citrus Junior College in Glendora, Calif., for one season before joining the New Mexico staff. At Citrus, he was the offensive line coach/running game coordinator, helping the Fighting Owls to the Western States Conference south division title.
Prior to Citrus and beginning his coaching career at his alma mater of Azuza Pacific, Woods was the offensive line assistant coach for one season before spending two seasons as tight ends coach. While at Azuza Pacific, Woods helped the Cougars to the NAIA national semifinals, as well as mentoring 2005 NAIA All-American tight end Ricky Burgan.
Woods, a native of San Dimas, Calif., was a two-year letterwinner at offensive tackle at Azuza Pacific, garnering NAIA first-team All-America accolades as well as being named to the first-team Don Hansen's Football Gazette NAIA All-America list in 2002. That season he anchored a Cougar offense that amassed 400 yards of offense per game, ranking 13th in the country and the offensive line unit only gave up 12 sacks all season, the fewest allowed by a Cougar team in six seasons.
Prior to Azuza Pacific, Woods was at Iowa State for one season, signing with the Cyclones after two standout seasons at Citrus College, where he earned National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-America honors in 1999.
Woods earned his bachelor's degree in business from Azuza Pacific in 2002 and his master's degree in physical education in 2005, also from Azuza Pacific.
Woods is married to the former Kelly Williams.
Utah State finished the 2008 season with a 3-9 overall and 3-5 WAC record, marking the first time since 2005 that the Aggies have three wins in a season. USU won three WAC games in a season for the first time in the Aggies' four seasons in the league. It is also the first time since 2003 that USU won three conference games and just the third time in the 2000's.
The Aggies return 47 letterwinners (24 offense, 20 defense and three special teams) after losing 12 lettermen (five offense, seven defense) among the 17 seniors from this season's roster.
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