Kiski Area grad Joe Woods excited for next phase of coaching career with Cleveland Browns

One Sunday, Joe Woods was coaching for the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. The following Sunday, he was house-hunting in Cleveland.

Such is the life of an NFL assistant coach. But Woods, a 1988 Kiski Area graduate, loves that sort of life.

Woods was named Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator less than week after the 49ers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV.

“It’s definitely crazy, but it’s all worth it,” Woods said in between talks with a realtor. “You’re just trying to move up the ladder when the opportunity presents itself.”

Woods was defensive backs/passing game coordinator coach for San Francisco, a team that went from 4-12 in 2018 to the Super Bowl this past season.

When Kevin Stefanski got the head coaching job with the Browns, Woods decided to come on board. He worked with Stefanski for eight seasons with the Minnesota Vikings.

Woods estimates to have “40 to 50 relatives in the (Cleveland) area.”

Oddly enough, Woods was with Tampa Bay from 2004-05, and he went to Minnesota along with Mike Tomlin, who was the Buccaneers defensive coordinator. Tomlin lasted one year with the Vikings before coming to the Steelers, and Woods built a relationship with Stefanski under coach Brad Childress.

The recent Super Bowl was the second for Woods as an assistant. The first was the Super Bowl 50 victory while serving as defensive backs coach for the Denver Broncos.

Woods, 49, grew up in North Vandergrift. He played slot back and a safety for the Cavaliers.

One person happy to see Woods closer to home is his high school coach, Dick Dilts.

“After Joe and Tomlin coached together at Tampa, I was always hoping Tomlin would bring Joe to Pittsburgh,” Dilts said. “He was a great kid for us and a heck of an athlete. As a safety, he was responsible for us getting to the (1986) WPIAL title game at Three Rivers.”

Said Woods: “My whole career in sports is the reflection of my great coaches I had growing up.”

While at Illinois State, Woods was a four-year starter with the Redbirds and a team captain in 1991, the same year he was an All-Gateway Conference first-team selection.

As Woods’ playing career neared its end, Redbirds defensive coordinator John Bowers suggested a career choice.

“Coach Bowers asked me if I ever thought of about coaching,” Woods said. “I then started as a graduate assistant at Illinois State, then I got my first coaching job at Muskingum (Ohio) College.”

Said Dilts: “I followed him in college. He was quiet with us but very aggressive on the field. He was a great basketball player, too.”

Woods made his way through the collegiate coaching ranks before getting his first NFL opportunity with Tampa Bay in 2004.

This past season, the 49ers defense held opponents to 169.2 passing yards per game, the lowest total by an NFL team since the 1989 New York Jets.

Now, presuming the Cincinnati Bengals draft LSU quarterback and reigning Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow with the first overall pick in April, Woods will have to prepare for AFC North Division rivals that also include the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger and Baltimore’s MVP quarterback, Lamar Jackson.

“It’s like that every week in the NFL,” Woods said. “You have to be ready for some real good football players.”

Woods and the Browns got good news Wednesday when the NFL lifted the suspension of defensive lineman Myles Garrett, who missed the final six games of last season after the helmet-swinging incident against Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph.

It was unknown until then when the suspension would end.

“I know the fanbase is craving for a winner,” Woods said. “I think we’re very close.”

Woods was inducted into the Armstrong County Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

Dilts and others are hoping he can get free for a future Saturday night to get his induction into the Kiski Area Sports Hall of Fame.