The Drake Bulldogs (Pioneer) have hired Joe Woodley as the school’s next head coach. Woodley is coming off a perfect 14-0 season with the NAIA’s Grand View Vikings that culminated in a 35-7 victory in the NAIA Championship over Keiser.
Woodley played linebacker at Iowa State from 1999 through 2003 and became an assistant coach with the NAIA’s St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa the following year. After two seasons as the defensive backs and linebackers coach, he spent another two years (2006 and 2007) at Johnston High School on the defensive side of the ball. In 2008, Woodley was named the defensive coordinator at Grand View alongside his father Mike Woodley as head coach. The pair helped build the program from its inception with Joe Woodley holding the DC position for 10 seasons. In 2018, he was named the offensive coordinator and took over for his father in 2019. The Woodleys won 93 games in the first 11 seasons including the 2013 NAIA Championship.
The younger Woodley took the already strong program and made it even better in his six seasons. Woodley never lost more than 1 game in a season going 72-5 overall and a perfect 29-0 in Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) games. He made the NAIA playoffs all six seasons, reaching the quarterfinals each year, the semifinals four times, and the NAIA title game twice. He lost the 2021 title game 38-28 to fellow Iowa program Morningside.
Woodley will take over for Todd Stepsis who departed after six seasons to become head coach of Northern Iowa (MVFC). Stepsis went 29-32 overall and 27-18 in the PFL but made the FCS Playoffs each of the last two years as the PFL’s champion.
Photo Credit to Grand View University Athletics
