FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas officially announced on Wednesday the football program has hired defensive backs coach Marcus Woodson, who will come to the Razorbacks as a co-defensive coordinator.
Woodson signed a contract through the 2024 season that will pay him $700,000 per year, according to the contract that was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Woodson's contract also includes a no-compete clause that prohibits him from taking some jobs within the SEC, but would be waived if he is offered a head coaching job or a "coordinator position with solo play calling duties."
The Razorbacks will also pay $160,000 to buy out Woodson's contract Florida State, where he spent the past three seasons as defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator with solid results.
A native of Moss Point, Miss., and a 2003 Ole Miss graduate, Woodson will reunite with and share co-coordinator duties with Travis Williams, who is expected to coach linebackers for fourth-year coach Sam Pittman. The pair worked together at Auburn in 2018-19, with Woodson serving as defensive backs coach the first year and adding recruiting coordinator duties the following season before joining first-year coach Mike Norvell at Florida State in 2020.
Williams and Woodson will be the first co-defensive coordinators at Arkansas since 2000, when Bobby Allen and John Thompson shared the duties.
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Williams was hired in mid-December and served in an observational and advisory role in bowl practices leading up to the Razorbacks’ 55-53 triple-overtime victory over Kansas in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 28.
Florida State ranked among the nation’s top pass defense teams in 2022. The Seminoles were fourth in the FBS at 165.4 passing yards per game allowed and 22nd in pass defense efficiency.
Arkansas is aiming to shore up its pass defense in 2023 after ranking last in the nation with 294.7 passing yards allowed per game and on the flip side tying for sixth in the country with a school record 42 sacks.
Woodson was a two-year starting safety at Ole Miss before injuries derailed his career.
He began his coaching career at Millsaps (Miss.) College in 2005 and coached defensive backs there for four seasons before moving on to Charleston Southern, where he handled defensive backs and was recruiting coordinator (2009-11) before adding defensive passing game coordinator (2012-13) to his duties.
Woodson also worked at Fresno State (2014-15) and Memphis (2016-17) before joining Gus Malzahn's staff at Auburn.
CORRECTION: A word quoted from Woodson's contract was initially written incorrectly. That quote has been corrected.