@CoachWoodley on Twitter

-Moved to Winston-Salem in September to work at Wake Forest

-Relationship with Steve Forbes and their connection

-Lifelong learner

-"These are lonely jobs."

-Growing up in a coaching family with father and brothers

-Impact his father had on his players and now headed into 46th year of coaching

-Working for Terry Carroll at Denver and Kermit Davis at Middle Tennessee State as an assistant in the Sun Belt Conference

-Terry Carroll had a simple approach and gave Matt a ton of responsibility (not a micro-manager)

-Kermit Davis held everybody in the program accountable to their job

-Very good coaches at all levels not just in Power 5 Conferences

-Joined Washington St. staff in 2006 and his experience on the West Coast

-Everything was so organized at Washington St.

-Got his masters basketball 101 working for Coach Bennett

-Golfing with Coach Dick Bennett

-Tony Bennett has such a conviction with the players that he wants and how they fit into a system along with system of play

-Tony Bennett first mentor to him and kind of a little brother/big brother relationship

-Tony Bennett was so consumed with the fundamentals over the scheme

-Daven Harmeling most favorite player

-Dealing with not getting the chance to go with staff to Virginia from Washington St.

-Opportunity to become a head coach at Waukee, learn how to “coach”, make decisions and leading Waukee to state tournament in second season

-Took over at Truman St. (D2) after his two seasons at Waukee

-Used the Washington St. philosophy of finding a group of guys that he could lose with first before they win

-Had two exceptional assistants

-Smart Guys. Tough Guys. Guys that can shoot or that are skilled with high character.

-More evaluating than recruiting and evaluating them not only as a player

-Asked high school coaches…Is he the toughest player you ever coached? How many days has he been out of school? Has he ever had a bad practice?

-Retention and continuity

-Leaving Truman St. to take assistant role with Iowa Energy and then in third year becoming head coach

-Prefers to watch pro basketball over college basketball

-Good friends with new Indiana Pacers head coach Nate Bjorkgren

-Earned PhD coaching in D-League

-Had a chance to learn from Dave Joerger and David Fizdale

-Saw Miami Heat conditioning program in full force

-As head coach of Iowa Energy tried to be someone he wasn’t

-Have to be able to do it your way

-“Don’t be afraid to hire people around you that know more than you.”

-One year move to Pittsburgh where Coach Stallings staff was fired at the end of 2017-18 season

-Coach Stallings treated him better than anyone else he has ever worked for

-“Coaching is a great profession, it is just a terrible business.”

-Returning to where it all began at Drake as an assistant with Coach DeVries

-Nick Norton best leader he has ever seen/coached

-Growth Mindset

-Doug Novak and Lennie Acuff to study basketball from

-Has read everything on Bill Belichick and Nick Saban (4th & Goal Everyday)

-Big listening to podcasts and things specifically with Stan Van Gundy and Jeff Van Gundy

-Big on the ability to share with one another

-“Coaches need to look out for other coaches.”

-Study the great coaches

-“No little detail is too small.” - Dick Bennett

-Talks to a lot of football coaches

-“You can’t get discouraged by things that happen. A lot of times it is out of your control.”

-“The world will get out of the way, for people that know where they want to go.”