University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Zac Woodfin Hired as Strength and Conditioning Coach
1/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss Department of Athletics announced Tuesday the hiring of Zac Woodfin as its head strength and conditioning coach.
Woodfin comes to Southern Miss after spending the last season at his alma mater, UAB, in the same position. He will handle the Golden Eagle football strength and conditioning needs as well as oversee the other 15 Southern Miss sports.
The former Blazer spent three seasons with the Green Bay Packers as assistant strength and conditioning coach, before accepting the position at UAB. In his one season he helped the Blazers improve from 2-10 last season to 6-6 in their final season as a program. For his efforts, he was named the FootballScoop 2014 Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year.
"We went through an extensive search," said Southern Miss coach Todd Monken. "We were looking for a guy with experience at all levels of training players. It was obvious he was the man for the job. He had every characteristic we were looking for. He did a great job at UAB, which we saw first-hand, which was validated by him being named National Strength Coach of the Year." As a player, the former linebacker earned first-team all-conference honors as a junior and senior in 2003 and 2004 and was a second-team selection for the 2002 season. In 2004, he helped lead UAB to a berth in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.
Following a college career in which he became UAB's all-time leading tackler (372 stops), Woodfin was signed as a free agent by Green Bay in 2005. He later signed with the Baltimore Ravens and spent two seasons with that organization before a stint in the World Football League and with the Houston Texans.
After leaving the Texans, Woodfin was hired as a performance specialist at Athletes' Performance in Los Angeles. He worked with many clients who played for various organizations in the NFL, NBA, MLB, as well as Olympic athletes.
He broke into the strength industry as a volunteer at Alabama and UAB, and then spent four years working with Athletes Performance in Los Angeles.
Woodfin and his wife, Fawn, have one son, Valor.
