BYU Football Reportedly Hires New Offensive Line Coach
Dec 11, 2023, 11:09 AM | Updated: 11:13 am
BYU football head coach Kalani Sitake has reportedly tabbed TJ Woods as the next offensive line coach. (Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News)
(Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News)
PROVO, Utah – BYU football has found an offensive line coach to replace Darrell Funk.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports that Georgia Southern’s TJ Woods is going to be the next offensive line coach for the Cougars. Officials from BYU have not confirmed the report.
Sources: BYU is expected to hire Georgia Southern offensive line coach TJ Woods at the same spot. He’s a veteran line coach who has worked at Utah State, Oregon State and Wisconsin. This move won't be formalized until after he coaches in Saturday’s Myrtle Beach Bowl.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 11, 2023
Woods’ name has been circulating as a potential candidate since Jeff Grimes was named the offensive coordinator at Kansas.
TJ Woods worked with Kalani Sitake at Oregon State
TJ Woods has a history in the state of Utah from his time during two stints under Gary Andersen at Utah State. He also worked with Andersen at Wisconsin and Oregon State.
Woods worked with Kalani Sitake in 2015 on the Oregon State staff when Sitake was the defensive coordinator for Andersen
Since exiting Corvallis in 2017, Woods has had stops at Western Kentucky, USU, UNLV, and Georgia Southern.
During his coaching career, he has had two stints as a Co-Offensive Coordinator. Those were at UNLV in 2022 and Oregon State in 2016.
While with the Rebels in 2022, Woods was part of an offensive staff that led to Aidan Robbins rushing for over 1,000 yards for UNLV.
Woods’ coaching career dates back to 2003, when he started as a graduate assistant at Azusa Pacific.
BYU football looks to repair the ground attack
BYU’s ground attack struggled in 2023. It was 118th nationally, averaging 104.3 yards per game. The Cougar offensive line had games where they “whiffed,” according to head coach Kalani Sitake. Woods will be tasked with getting BYU’s offensive line back to the physical identity they built from 2020-2022, where they won 29 games over that span.
The Georgia Southern Eagles are 6-6 this season and will play in the Myrtle Beach Bowl this Saturday against Ohio University.
After Woods joins the staff, BYU still has one opening remaining. They dismissed Steve Clark as tight ends coach two weeks ago. Since BYU dismissed Funk and Clark from the staff, QB analyst Matt Mitchell has been an interim assistant coach allowing for him to make in-home visits on the recruiting trail in the leadup to Signing Day.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X and Threads: @Mitch_Harper.
