Matt Woodley - Assistant Coach - Staff Directory - Wake Forest University Athletics

Staff Directory

Matt Woodley

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:

Wake Forest men's basketball coach Steve Forbes announced the addition of Matt Woodley to his staff as a special assistant in September 2020 and he was moved to assistant coach in April 2022.

Woodley came to Winston-Salem after spending two years at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa as an assistant coach under Darian DeVries.

Over the last four years, Woodley has been instrumental in helping Wake Forest:

Earn 61 home victories, as Wake Forest is one of only six schools with that many home wins
86 overall victories, the fourth-most in the ACC
47 ACC regular season victories, most in a four-year span in school history
13 ACC regular season victories in both 2021-22 and 2024-25, tied for the most in a single season in school history

In 2024-25, Woodley helped lead the Demon Deacons to 21 victories overall and the program’s first-ever double bye in the ACC Tournament. With 13 ACC victories – tied for the most in a single season in school history and the second time in four seasons the Deacs have hit that mark – Wake Forest earned its highest regular season finish since the 2008-09 campaign.

Wake Forest matched the school record for road ACC victories with six, as the Demon Deacons defeated Syracuse, Miami, Virginia Tech, Stanford, Cal and SMU on their home courts. In February, the Demon Deacons became the first – and only – ACC program to sweep the West Coast swing with victories over the Cardinal and Golden Bears.

In non-conference play, Wake Forest earned eight victories including a 72-70 result over Big Ten Tournament champions Michigan.

Tallying an 11-9 conference record in 2023-24, the Deacons have registered three consecutive years of double-digit ACC wins for the first time since 1995-97 -- having gone 10-10 during 2022-23 and 13-7 in 2021-22. The team's 34 conference victories in that three-year span mark the most since the 2003-05 run when Wake Forest piled up 35 ACC wins. Three seasons in a row with winning records has happened for the program -- a first since 2008-10. The Deacs also reached the 20-win mark in 2023-24 -- the second time in the past three seasons. The 2023-24 season included the 32nd time in program history that the Deacons had advanced in the conference tournament. Wake Forest went on to compete in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) for the 2023-24 postseason -- its eighth all-time appearance and second in the last three seasons.

In year two, the staff led the Deacs to one of their best seasons in the past 20 years, finishing the 2021-22 year with 25 wins, the most since 2004-05. With a regular-season conference record of 13-7, Wake Forest tied the single-season program record for ACC wins with 13 (2004-05, 2002-03). With just three league wins during 2020-21, the Deacs had the largest year-to-year improvement ever in ACC win totals with 10. Wake Forest finished conference play fifth in the standings, its highest finish since 2010.

As a member of the staff for three years, Woodley was a part of the biggest turnaround in ACC play in league history by Wake Forest. The Deacs won 10 more ACC games in 2022 than they did in 2021. He was also instrumental in the development of forward Jake LaRavia during his single season in Winston-Salem before getting drafted 19th overall in the 2022 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies.

Additionally, he boasts extensive and diverse experience at the professional, collegiate and high school levels. Woodley has coached 23 future NBA players including Klay Thompson and Hassan Whiteside in addition to serving as the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies D-League team and an assistant for the franchise's summer league team.

As a three-year starter at Drake, Woodley played in 83 games and was twice named honorable mention All-MVC and the team MVP as a senior in 1999-00. He ended his career as the program's all-time leader in three-pointers and steals. He remains the Bulldogs' all-time steals leader with 194 and earned a bachelor's degree in education from Drake in 2000.

Since earning his degree, Woodley has accumulated nearly two decades of extensive coaching experience at nearly every level of the game. Prior to Drake, he served as special assistant to the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh during the 2017-18 season, where he assisted with game preparation, practice plans, scouting reports as well as day-to-day basketball operations.

Prior to Pitt, he gained experience in the professional ranks with three seasons on the staff of NBA D-League's Iowa Energy, including serving as the organization's head coach in 2016-17.

Woodley joined the NBA following three seasons as the head coach at Division II Truman State where he improved the team's record in each of his three seasons to amass a 38-44 record as a head coach by taking over a lagging program and leading the team to eight, 10 and 20 wins in his three seasons. In 2013-14, he guided the program to just the sixth 20-win season in program history and set a program record with 13 conference victories.

Woodley took the reins at Truman State after two years back in central Iowa as the head coach at Waukee High School where the Warriors won their first Central Iowa Metro League (CIML) conference title and a trip to the 2011 state tournament.

Woodley added to his already extensive resume at Washington State under head coach Tony Bennett from 2006-09. During his stint at the school, the Cougars advanced to three consecutive postseason appearances, including the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2008. He served as the program's recruiting coordinator, landing top-20 recruiting classes twice in three years. On the court, he helped the program post back-to-back 25-win seasons and NCAA tournament appearances for the first time in school history.

He spent five seasons in the Sun Belt Conference, first at the University of Denver (2001-04) before joining head coach Kermit Davis' staff at Middle Tennessee State as an assistant coach (2004-06). Woodley's responsibilities included recruiting, scouting, scheduling and film exchange, as well as the daily preparations for the team. At both Denver and Middle Tennessee State, Woodley supervised the men's basketball academic programs, landing a combined 14 players on Sun Belt Conference all-academic teams. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Wayne State (2000-01).

Woodley and his wife, Jennifer, have four children – Michael (9), Molly (8), Mackenzie (6) and Miles (5).