The best defensive coordinator you've never heard of.
Nate Woody is the godfather of the East Coast 3-4, which in lower-level coaching circles is one of the most popular Odd Front schemes to run.
By beating Tulane in last Saturday’s AAC Conference Championship, the Black Knights have won their first conference championship in 134 years. The primary catalyst behind Army’s surge this year has been the offense. Senior quarterback Bryson Daily only threw for 877 yards but had 1,480 on the ground and only one game (in Week 1) where he didn’t rush for over 100 yards.
Early this fall, I explained to the guys at
that when a flexbone team can adequately pass the ball, it can be a nightmare to defend because it stretches the defense’s resources even thinner. Though Daily wasn’t a prolific passer, when Army needed him to throw, he didn’t turn the ball over (only one interception all year). He was accurate, too, finishing right under a 60% completion percentage (57.7%).The Army offense controls the clock and uses efficiency to ‘keep away’ from its opponent. The defense is one aspect of the team that can enhance this. Though the Army’s defense did not match the offense's efficiency, it was good enough to keep the Black Knights from getting into shootouts.
The Army’s defense has been its best since 2020 when it finished 29th in DFEI (Think NFL’s DVOA). The unit's leader is Nate Woody, who has been Head Coach Jeff Monken since 2020. Woody is one of the godfathers of the East Coast 3-4 system, one of the country's most popular.
In 2018, most coaches around football were beginning to shift away from the basic 4-2-5 Quarters structures that had become popular in the previous decade to stop hurry-up, no-huddle Spread systems. In Ames, Jon Heacock was developing a ‘newer’ version of the Odd Stack that could be played from a 3-High structure. Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy called it ‘The Air Raid Killer.’
In Tuscaloosa, something else was brewing. Nick Saban and Kirby Smart had been studying Todd Orlando and Dave Aranda. Each ran the Tite Front, which inspired the two defensive gurus to develop their own system, the Mint Package. The Mint Package and Tite Fronts (Aranda) are similar but not the same systems.
Aranda and Ron Roberts are considered the godfathers of the Tite Front, having developed the system for decades. Saban and Smart created the Mint Package, which stemmed from a need to develop better ways to handle the Spread’s zone-centric run games and allocate more numbers to defend the pass.
These three systems were the bedrock for the development of stopping the uber-spread and are still popular today. Heacock’s 3-High system is as prevalent at the college and high school level as Aranda's Creeper/Sim-based system. Though more complicated to run because of its complexity, Saban and Smart’s influence on coverage and pressure designs is just as significant.
However, a fourth system has become an increasingly popular way to stop modern offenses, especially at the lower levels of football. Similar to the other three, it is zone-based and features an odd front. The East Coast 3-4 doesn’t get as much publicity as the other three, but its contribution to modern football cannot be underestimated.
Nate Woody started his coaching career at Wofford, which has become the Mecca for the East Coast 3-4. Most people attribute Appalachian State to being the center of the East Coast 3-4 universe, but Wofford is where it started. From 1988 to 2012, Woody worked his way up from position coach to defensive coordinator in 2000. After 24 years, he left to take the coordinator position at Appalachian State in 2013 and would stay until 2017, when he left for Georgia Tech to be the DC on Paul Johnson’s final staff.
The establishment of App State's defensive culture cannot be understated. From his time in Boone, the Mountaineers have been one of the best defenses in college football. They can take on Power 4 teams and push them, sometimes even winning. Woody’s simple system allowed his hybrid players to play fast and use speed up front to cause chaos for more talented offensive personnel.
Current Ole Miss co-DC Bryan Brown would take over the Mountaineers defense when Woody left for Atlanta. Brown would eventually leave with Scott Satterfield to Louisville and then Cincinnati, eventually landing in Oxford, MS. Another key coach in this tree is newly appointed Texas Tech DC Sheil Woods. He’s had stops at Troy, Tulane, and Houston.
Woody's scheme began as a movement-based Odd Front system. The movements are often called reductions or single-gap movements from a 404 front. The concept enabled the defense to keep its lighter defensive linemen aggressive and attacking offenses at the line of scrimmage.
The entire defensive front is typically made up of hybrid defenses. Most of the defensive line consists of converted high school linebackers or hybrid edge defenders. These leaner linemen generally are faster than many opponents, and Army takes advantage of their speed.
The hybrid strategy has been employed before by the legendary coach Jimmy Johnson. His original 4-3 Quarters system in Miami developed high school athletes who played at a level above what they would be expected to play at Miami. For example, 'slower' Safeties were often converted to play linebackers.
The scheme does not rely heavily on exotic movements or pressures. On 3rd down, an offense might see some 'exotic' or curated alignments, but the looks are relatively static on base downs (1st and 2nd). The primary goal of the scheme is to prioritize movement over pressure.
Army focuses on four- and five-man pressures combined with post-snap movement. The philosophy aims to put significant pressure on the offensive tackles while keeping the back end straightforward. It emphasizes playing fast and attacking the ball. Reductions serve as the foundation of this strategy.
