Ray Woodie has been preparing for his new job as USF defensive coordinator nearly all his life

Ray Woodie has been preparing himself to be a successful football coach at the collegiate level and perhaps beyond nearly all his life.

The upcoming season at USF will be the first as a college defensive coordinator, but in many ways Woodie will have some of the best minds in football standing by his side.

He put himself in a position to learn from the best working as an NFL intern and spending time traveling to different parts of the country to be with successful coaches.

He used to spend summers with current Florida coach Jim McELwain when he was at Michigan State and also learned from Iowa State head coach Kirk Ferentz.

When he interned with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers he developed a strong relationship with Lovie Smith, and of course there has always been USF head coach Willie Taggart, who Woodie has been working under for six years.

He has remained close with Doug Williams, the former Bucs quarterback and head coach at Grambling, whom he calls a mentor. They met when Williams presented him with an award for being named an All-Conference linebacker at Bethune-Cookman and helped Woodie when he became the youngest head football coach in Florida in 1997 in taking over the Bayshore program.

Woodie later became head coach at his alma mater, Palmetto, until Taggart, the former Manatee High quarterback great, hired him at Western Kentucky.

“I always wanted to coach. I have a teacher mentality from my parents and relatives who were teachers,” Woodie said. “I just love seeing kids grow. Being around older guys and learning how things should be done organizationally. There are no bad football players (on your team) because if there are then you are a bad recruiter.”

The one thing that has stood out for Woodie from all the successful coaches he has rubbed shoulders with is “pay attention to detail.”

“That has always been on my mind, always ATD. You have to pay attention to detail regardless of whatever you have, meaning the players,” Woodie said Wednesday at USF’s media day. “You can’t worry about what you don’t have. You’ve got to coach the guys who you have and pay attention to detail and coach them to get better.”

Woodie replaces Tim Allen, who was also a collegiate first-year defensive coordinator last year and is the third DC for USF in the last three years.

There is some concern the players could be a little weary of all the changes. But Taggart calls this a seamless transition because Woodie has been with the Bulls for three years coaching linebackers and did a good job as special teams coordinator last season.

“Change is always a little tough, but kids get over things quicker than adults and they are on to the next person,” Woodie said. “I learned a lot coaching under different coordinators. I learned some good things and learned some things I probably wouldn’t do. But the kids realize I was here and it makes the transition easier.”

Middle linebacker Auggie Sanchez, the leading returning tackler in the American Athletic Conference with 117, was a little leery of the change in the beginning, but says he likes what he has seen now that they’ve gotten to know each other.

“When coach Woodie first got the job I think he was we are going to do it this way and it’s my way and that’s what is going to happen, but he has opened up and calmed down and it’s good to see,” Sanchez said. “He has given more responsibility to the players and trusted us. I think it’s good for him to go to me and Dietrich Nichols and Nate Godwin to get the heartbeat of the team. He is becoming a player’s coach.”

Woodie is blessed to have seven of his top nine tacklers back on a defense that was 13th nationally in tackles for loss. He is also using the same 4-2-5 scheme that proved effective for most of last season, though it clearly showed room for improvement, particularly in a 45-35 loss to Western Kentucky in the Miami Beach Bowl, which ended USF’s season at 8-5.

Woodie met with his players during the summer and that meeting resulted in an understanding and meeting of the minds. They respect he is the guy in charge, but appreciate he is giving them an input.

USF is picked to win the AAC East Division title and with expectations high Woodie wants to make sure complacency does not set in.

“We didn’t finish number one in the conference so we got a lot of work to do and that is what the kids want,” Woodie said “We came together this summer and made goals. The kids already know what is it at stake and that we didn’t finish on a good note. That has left a bitter taste.”

The biggest transition from Allen to Woodie was not trust, but the understanding that Woodie does not think like Allen, according to Taggart.

“Our guys have to understand why he is thinking that way and not be afraid to ask why,” Taggart said. “We need to understand the why, that is probably the biggest difference right now and Woodie is understanding those guys better.”

They are similar in many ways particularly in their demeanor. They don’t curse at the players and don’t feel you have to yell to get your point across.

Woodie said one thing back in 1997 at Bayshore that is still a strong belief for him: “Talent is overrated; character always wins out.”

This story was originally published August 10, 2016 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Ray Woodie has been preparing for his new job as USF defensive coordinator nearly all his life."