When the Texas Tech football team visits Cincinnati for the first time this week, the two teams' defensive coordinators will need no introduction. Bearcats DC Nate Woody and Tech DC Shiel Wood are both Wofford (S.C.) College alumni who coached together at their alma mater, then again at Georgia Tech and again at Army.
Woody, now 65, was on the Terriers' coaching staff when Wood, now 44, played for them.
"I love him," Wood said on Monday, Oct. 19. "[He's] a mentor of mine, really instrumental in my coaching career. Can't say enough great things about him. He's a phenomenal person, great leader, outstanding football coach and I'm just really glad I have a relationship with him. He's made a tremendous impact on my career."
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No. 8 Tech (6-0, 3-0 in the Big 12) and Cincinnati (4-2, 1-2) square off at 11 a.m. CDT Saturday, Oct. 24, at Nippert Stadium.
Tech coach Joey McGuire said he talked to Woody about coming to Tech as co-defensive coordinator when he hired Wood from the Houston staff in December 2024, but "he wasn't ready to leave Army yet."
"Great guy," McGuire said. "I'm excited, really excited. It's going to be fun. You're talking about two of the best defensive coordinators in the country going at each other."
Woody was the Army defensive coordinator from 2020 through 2025 after having been DC at Wofford (2000-12), Appalachian State (2013-17) and Georgia Tech (2018).
Wood's been a rising star among defensive coaches for the past several years. Defense played a starring role in the Red Raiders' 12-2 team last season and Tech currently ranks No. 5 in the FBS in rushing defense and No. 28 in scoring defense.
"I was messing with coach Wood," McGuire told reporters. "Y'all ask him, 'Has the student become the master?' Because Nate Woody, coach Woody is phenomenal at what he does."
Wood was a ninth-grader in Spartanburg, South Carolina, when he first took note of Woody, going over to watch Terriers practices when his father was the school's athletics director. Not that Wood was a highly sought recruit, but he said Woody "recruited" him — making air quotation marks with his fingers — for the Terriers from a local high school.
Woody, having been a Wofford position coach from 1988-99, took over as defensive coordinator for the next 13 seasons. During that time frame, Wood was a Terriers wide receiver from 2001-05, their wide receivers coach from 2007-10 and their safeties coach from 2011-12.
Perhaps the most important moment in Wood's career came in 2006, his first year out of college, when he was coaching at a nearby high school. Then-Wofford head coach Mike Ayers, thinking it would help Wood's coaching development, let the former wide receiver sit in with the defensive staff.
Wood was hooked and has said he wanted a chance to coach defense from then on. About five years later, he finally got the opportunity, with Woody still running things for the Terriers on that side of the ball.
Asked what traits Woody passed on to him, Wood said, "I think maybe some of the things in terms of the foundational principles of what it takes to have a really great defense. Trying to set your defense up to where you can have a base defense that you can play whatever personnel grouping it may be that you're operating out of."
Two more from the Wofford coaching tree are on the Tech staff: senior defensive analyst Jack Teachey and co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Rob Greene. McGuire and Wood have said Cincinnati looked to hire Greene this past off-season before Bearcats coach Scott Satterfield landed Woody.
"I guarantee you Coach Woody has sat down with their offensive staff and said, 'Hey, this is what you need to expect from Shiel,' " McGuire said, "and should have Shiel sit down with our offensive staff and say, 'Hey, this is what you need to expect from Coach Woody.'
"They both are and should be very proud of their defense and what they do. Somebody's going to have bragging rights, but they're such good friends, and so it's a little bit different."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football's Shiel Wood ready for matchup with his mentor