Ray Woodard


 * This article is about the American football player and coach. For the soccer coach, see Ray Woodard (soccer coach).

Ray Woodard (born August 20, 1961) is a former American football defensive tackle and current head coach at Lamar University. He was hired on May 19, 2008 to resurrect the Lamar Cardinals football program that was discontinued in 1989. Woodard played college football at Kilgore College and Texas, was selected 199th overall in the 1984 NFL Draft. He spent the next five seasons with the San Diego Chargers, Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs. He was a member of the Broncos' 1986 AFC Champion and Super Bowl team.

NFL Europe
He spent three years as the defensive coordinator for the Scottish Claymores from 2000–2003.

Navarro Junior College
From 2005–2007 Woodard spent his time coaching at Navarro Junior College. His first two years were spent as a defensive coordinator and his last year he was head coach. His 2007 squad went 9–3 and advanced to the conference playoffs for the first time in six seasons.

Navarro defeated defending national champion Blinn College on consecutive weeks before rolling past Kilgore — the SWJCFC regular-season champion — on the road 54–28 to earn the school's first bowl bid since the 1990s.

Navarro claimed a 24–21 win over Georgia Military in the Pilgrim's Pride Bowl to finish the year ranked fourth in the NJCAA national poll. For his efforts, Woodard was named the SWJCFC Coach of the Year.

Navarro ranked third nationally in total offense (444.6 yards per game), fourth in rushing offense (250.5 ypg) and 16th in passing offense (194.2 ypg), while scoring a school-record 428 points for an average of 35.7 per game in 2007.

Lamar University
In 2008 Lamar University hired Ray Woodard as their first head football coach in almost 20 years to bring football back to Lamar. The Lamar Cardinals football team played their first season in 2010 under coach Woodard. The 2010 Cardinals went 5–6 as Division I independents.