It’s been a long time, but Scott Woodward is heading back home.

The former Mahar High School and UMass quarterback who is originally from Wendell, MA has had numerous stops during his 14-year coaching career, but he’s finally coming back to the Commonwealth.

Woodward was recently named the new head coach at Middlesex, where he’ll take over after spending the last three seasons as the wide receivers coach at the University of Kentucky.

Woodward went to Kentucky after two seasons as offensive quality control assistant at Pitt (2019-20). Before that, he spent four years at UMass (2015-18), serving as the tight ends coach in 2018, he also was as an offensive analyst and worked with the quarterbacks and receivers.

Prior to UMass, Woodward had coaching stops at Fairleigh Dickinson (2013-15) and Westfield State (2010-13). He did a lot at FDU, including offensive coordinator, academic coordinator, travel coordinator and assistant strength and conditioning coordinator. At Westfield State, Woodward was a graduate assistant working with the QB’s and skill position guys. He was also a ‘fundraising coordinator’ and managed home game operations.

While many coaches dream of the NFL or college ranks, coaching high school has always been in the back of Woodward’s mind after watching his father have so much success coaching at Mahar.

Now, the timing is just right to start building his own head coaching legacy.

“Growing up, I’ve always thought I was going to be a high school head coach,” Woodward said in a phone interview with NEFJ on Wednesday. “My dad Jim Woodward was a longtime head coach at Mahar Regional…he was as good as it gets. He’s in the Massachusetts High School Hall of Fame. He’s in the Springfield College Hall of Fame. He was kind of my role model, my mentor throughout.

“I played for him in high school and I always thought I was going to be a high school coach and follow in my dad’s footsteps.”

Once he was out of a job at Kentucky, Woodward called a name very familiar to this area about another job before finding out about the opportunity at Middlesex.

“Kentucky decided to go in a different direction at the wide receiver position, so I got let go. There I was trying to find a job again. I was looking all over the country for a college job, and I actually called my buddy Anthony Fucillo who’s the head coach at Belmont Hill about another job, and he he said ‘hey, Middlesex is open, why don’t you just reach out to them and see what happens?’

“I did. I emailed our AD Craig Nigerian and he got back to me in like five minutes. We got on the phone that night, kind of just talked for a couple weeks and it happened to work out that I was going back up to Massachusetts for a wedding. My wife’s best friend got married in Sturbridge. I kind of met Craig then – we met in the past on my recruiting trails when I was at CM all the time recruiting – and then I just kind of fell in love with the place, the program, their vision. I just kind of talked to my wife about it. The opportunity to go back home, be close to family. I’ve got a kid that’s about two years old. I can get him back close to his grandparents, my wife’s from Pittsfield.

“The opportunity to just come back home and do what I love, be close to my dad – and I think I might even put him on staff – having him around, it was kind of an opportunity I couldn’t turn down.”

Coaching in the ultra-competitive league he’s stepping into won’t be easy, but that friendship he mentioned with Fucillo as well as Tabor’s head man Jeff More will certainly help the transition.

“I know the New England Prep School League is producing top talent every year. I’ve known a few coaches in the league just by recruiting their schools in the past. I’ve got a couple buddies that are head coaches. I mentioned (Fucillo) and I know (Moore) pretty well…I’ve already been on the phone with them a couple times asking questions like ‘what can we do?’

“I’m excited to get in the league and coach. I have a lot to learn. I wa just on a call earlier with somebody who I think is going to be on my staff and he’s telling me ‘oh in high school you do this and that a certain way,’ and I’m like ‘that’s great. Your job on my staff is going to be to tell me when I’m doing too much and when I should shut up.’ You know what I mean? I’m going to lean on my father for that because he’s been very successful for 30, 35 years at the high school level…I just found out the other day they play college rules, so the field is college lined not high school lined, I was excited about that. I won’t have to change the way I do things lining up wise and formation wise. It’s going to be a learning curve every day.

“I’m excited to get in this league and see what Middlesex can do.”

The former UMass QB has still kept tabs on the program in Amherst as much as possible and even recently chatted with Don Brown. Now, he’ll be able to follow the Minutemen even closer as the pursuit for bowl eligibility continues. Woodward was a four-year letterman at UMass and played for the Minutemen’s 2006 team that finished as the national runner-up.

He’s got some pretty lofty expectations for the upcoming season.

“I’ve been in the college ranks now for 14 years and I’d be hard-pressed to say I had or seen a better coach than Don Brown,” Woodward stated sternly. “You know he’s going to bring it defensively every year. He’s always been a defensive guru, a defensive mastermind. He’s one of the best in the country at it. I think they’re starting to get a little bit better jump on recruiting. They’ve got some guys on staff there that have done a really good job recruiting.

“I looked at their schedule the other day. it’s kind of hard for them because they’ve got three SEC games next year. But, besides those three games, I think those other nine are winnable. Obviously, you’ve got to play the games, but they’ve got my full support. I wish them nothing but the best and I’ll be at the spring game on April 27 supporting them. Ever since I left there, after my game on a Saturday I always open up the ESPN app and check the score. I’m a huge supporter of Coach Brown.”

Woodward also has a unique perspective when it comes to what the rest of the country sees when it comes to New England high school and college football.

The gap is still pretty big, but it’s closing.

“I’ll tell ya, it’s definitely in the last five years…it’s grown tremendously,” he said. “It’s had a lot more respect on its name the last few years. The coaches have done a great job. When I was a high school kid coming out, there wasn’t many kids going to play Division 1 football. There was a few in New England, but now with the prep schools growing and the CM’s, the Springfield Central’s are now producing talent every year. I think the coaches and the trainers, the camps outside…I know Tommy Guy in Springfield does a great job with QB’s. I know Mike McCarthy does a great job out in Eastern Mass with the quarterbacks.

“Even when I was recruiting at Kentucky or Pitt, I would reach out to those guys. Like, ‘hey, what do you got for us?’ And they always had a couple guys that could play in the ACC or the SEC. That was never the case, even five or 10 years ago. The overall talent in Massachusetts has gotten better.”

Despite closing that national recruiting gap, this state is far behind when it comes to relationship building with the high schools, something Woodward could possibly impact greatly with his connections throughout the game.

“I still think Massachusetts is behind the times with not allowing spring football. I think it’s a big mistake,” Woodward said adamantly. “The coaches go out on the road all spring and they’re trying to see these kids, and to be honest, the only time I’ve ever had issues going to see kids in high schools is in Massachusetts and that’s a shame because you’re hurting the kid.

“You’ve got a college coach walking into a high school, potentially being able to offer this kid and his family a free education and they can’t get them out of class or they won’t allow them out of class. I recruited the whole state of Tennessee the last three years and I never had a single issue getting a kid out of class to see me or see the coach. It’s definitely’s a different world, but Massachusetts is going in the right direction.”

Woodward’s experience at the D1 level will be invaluable to his players when it comes to recruiting. His love for Massachusetts football will be felt by everyone who touches Middlesex.

“I’m excited for the challenge,” he added. “I’m excited to run the show and get some more buzz around the Middlesex football program.”