Sterling, Va. — For the first time in more than a decade, the Dominion High School football team was tasked with finding a new head coach. Following the 2018 season, long time head coach Karl Buckwalter – who took over the reins for the Titans in 2008 – announced his resignation to pursue a different opportunity.
After back-to-back playoff appearances in 2016 and 2017, the Titans experienced a down year in 2018, finishing their regular season below .500 for the first time since 2012.
[adrotate banner=”28″]Dominion hopes to turn its program back to its winning ways and thinks that Drake Woodard is the man for the job.
After growing up in upstate New York – where he was a three-sport athlete at Whitesboro High School – Woodard went on to play Division III football at Hobart College.
Following his senior year at Hobart, Woodard joined the Statesmen staff as a graduate assistant. The next year Woodard moved to Northern Virginia, where he served as Shenandoah University’s defensive backs coach from 2013-2017.
Prior to last season, Woodard stepped down from his position at Shenandoah, so he could stop making recruiting trips and spend more time with his family. In 2018, Woodard joined the Rock Ridge High School coaching staff as the Phoenix’s defensive coordinator.
Woodard sat down with LoCoSports journalist Varun Shankar to give us the scoop: inside the huddle.
Varun Shankar: Congrats on the gig! After a year as the defensive coordinator at Rock Ridge, what drew you to the Dominion job?
Drake Woodard: The people who make up this community have a hard-working mentality that displays in their players and in their teams. When the community is fruitful with people like that, it makes it very enticing. This community is that for me.
Shankar: In the mid 2010s, Dominion enjoyed a fair amount of success on the football field, including four playoff appearances from 2013-2017. But last year was a little disappointing. What did you see on film that you think led to that?
Woodard: I believe in offense, I believe in defense, I believe in fundamentals. When you’re on offense, not moving the ball consistently, whether it’s execution, preparation or all of the above. Same thing on defense. There are things you see on film but don’t know without being in the coaching room. I saw missed tackles, we need to work on stuff like that.
Shankar: Similarly, Rock Ridge didn’t have a lot of success last year. What do you attribute that to?
Woodard: I think we never finished. There were times where we had some success and battled with some teams. A couple games, we were right there but were never able to put four quarters together. Speaking from a defensive perspective, we had to be able to withstand the motions of a game, the ups and downs, when you’re high, be ready for the low. I thought at Rock Ridge, we were never able to build a whole resume for a game. That’s on me as a defensive coordinator, but I think we made some big strides as a defense.
Shankar: Speaking of defense, what type of defense do you plan on running at Dominion?
Woodard: We try to fit offense and defense to our players. On defense, there are a few things I like to do. The type of defense I want to see is relentless. I want to see us pursue; I want to see us attack. I want to see us be great tacklers. I want us to force turnovers. I want us to be sound in the back half of coverage.
Shankar: On the flip side, what do you plan on doing offensively?
Woodard: I love to be efficient. Controlling the ball and having a positive turnover margin is by far the most important aspect of a game. We will move the ball. I love [run-pass options], love being able to put defensive players and coordinators in binds where you’re playing chess so they don’t know what the next step is. They don’t know what formation is more predicated in runs and what’s predicated in pass. Offensively, we will be efficient, we will take care of the ball, but we will attack in certain spots with different elements of our game.
Shankar: Do you have any of your coaching staff picked out yet? Are you retaining any of Coach Buckwalter’s assistants?
Woodard: I have some coaches in mind that I don’t want to name right now just based on situations. Dominion has had such great success, and with that success, some credit has to go to the assistant coaches. I’m scheduled to talk to some of those guys and see what their philosophies are.
Shankar: Lastly, how does it feel to be a Giants fan in Redskins country?
Woodard: After this past week, it feels pretty good!