Nick Woodman is in his first year as a defensive assistant on the Villanova coaching staff in 2025. He comes to the Wildcats from Williams College where he spent two years as the team’s defensive line coach. Woodman entered the coaching ranks after a successful collegiate and professional playing career.
The first stop in Woodman’s coaching career came at his alma mater, Utica College, where he served as an assistant coach from 2020-23 working with the Ephs outside linebackers and defensive line. His responsibilities included organizing individual positional drills for daily practice and contributing to game planning by scouting upcoming opponents. Woodman handled the in-game rotation of student-athletes and assisted with virtual recruiting days during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
As a collegiate player in his own right, Woodman was a standout four-year performer at Utica who graduated as the career sack leader in school history and in the Empire 8 Athletic Conference with 29.5 career sacks. Woodman set the Utica single season sack record with 13 and served as a team captain in addition to being a four-year leadership council member.
Following his collegiate career, Woodman was invited to the New York Giants minicamp in 2016. He played professionally from 2016-22 in the Canadian Football League (Saskatchewan Rough Riders, 2016); the American Arena League (Jersey Flight, 2018); the National Arena League (Jacksonville Sharks, 2019) and the Indoor Football League (Spokane Shock, 2020 and 2021; Vegas Knight Hawks, 2022). While playing in Jacksonville he was named the Defensive Player of the Year, Defensive Lineman of the Year and Rookie of the Year while recording 16.5 sacks. He helped lead the Sharks to a 2019 championship.
Woodman earned his Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations from Utica in 2016 with a concentration in sports management and a minor in journalism.
