Kirk Ferentz announces LeVar Woods leaving Iowa to join Pat Fitzgerald's Michigan State staff

On Thursday, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz revealed that Hawkeyes special teams coordinator LeVar Woods is leaving the program to join Michigan State‘s staff. He will serve as MSU’s special teams coordinator and assistant head coach, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Woods has been on Iowa’s coaching staff since 2008. He played at Iowa from 1998-2000. He’s served in multiple roles for the Hawkeyes, including as outside linebackers and tight ends coach.

However, he specializes in special teams. He’s widely regarded as one of the best special teams coaches in the country.

Iowa averages the most yards per punt return in college football. Moreover, the Hawkeyes average the 10th-most yards per kickoff return.

Woods will be serving under Pat Fitzgerald, who Michigan State hired as its next head coach on Nov. 30. Fitzgerald was the head coach at Northwestern from 2006-23. In his 17 seasons at the helm of the program, he led the Wildcats to a 110-101 mark and a 65-76 record in conference play.

Fitzgerald’s best season at Northwestern was in 2018, when the team went 8-1 in conference play and appeared in the Big Ten Championship game. In total, he logged nine winning seasons with the Wildcats.

On July 7, 2023, Fitzgerald was suspended for two weeks after a player accused him of being aware of hazing within the program. Law firm ArentFox Schiff conducted an independent investigation into the allegations.

Initially, the school said the investigation didn’t find sufficient evidence to support the player’s allegations. However, on July 10, 2023, the school fired Fitzgerald after The Daily Northwestern released a story that included detailed descriptions of hazing from the former player.

Now, Fitzgerald is hopeful to find success in a new environment. Evidently, he’ll have Woods by his side. Fitzgerald has already hired multiple other coaches, including defensive line coach Winston DeLattiboudere and linebackers coach Max Bullough.

“It’s not overwhelming, it’s awesome,” Fitzgerald said of the opportunity. “We’ve got work to do, man …. You kind of storm, then you form, and then you norm. We are in the storm right now, but that is because of organizational change and restructuring. But we are not changing what the expectation and the standard is in the Spartan program, we are just reestablishing it.”

Michigan State has had 12 players announce their intent to enter the transfer portal. LeVar Woods and the rest of Michigan State’s coaching staff will have a busy offseason ahead of them.