Derek Mason weighs in on death of former Vanderbilt, Mizzou coach Woody Widenhofer
Woody Widenhofer had stints as the Mizzou and Vanderbilt head coach, leading the Tigers from 1985-88 and the Commodores from 1997-2001.
He went 27-71-1 during his time as a college head coach, but fared much better as an NFL assistant, winning 4 Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Sadly, on Sunday, Widenhofer passed away at the age of 77. Current Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason took to Twitter to offer his condolences on Monday, as you can see below:
“I share the sadness of Commodore Nation with the news that Woody Widenhofer has passed. Coach Widenhofer was regarded as one of the best defensive minds ever. I send my prayers and sympathies to Coach Widenhofer’s family, his VU student-athletes and all who knew him.” ⚓️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/sOKvJheu1h
— Derek Mason (@CoachDerekMason) March 23, 2020
Widenhofer was also the Vanderbilt defensive coordinator in 1995 and 1996 before getting the head coaching job in 1997.
Our condolences to the Widenhofer, Mizzou and Vanderbilt families at this time.
Prayers to the family, and thanks to Coach Woody.
not to nit pik, it makes little difference, but wasn’t W.W. 87 years old vs. the reported 77 years old. Knowing this will help a lot of fans place his good work in their minds.
No. He was 77.
Woody Widenhofer had incidents at both Missouri and Vanderbilt that sabotaged the progress he had made, and after these incidents, both programs went downhill quickly.
The 1987 Missouri team was oh so close to knocking off #1 Oklahoma in Norman, after the Tigers had wasted chances of beating Indiana and Oklahoma State earlier in the year.
At Vanderbilt i 1999, the Commodores had a third down play to line up the ball in the middle of the field for a short field goal to beat Kentucky 20-19 and get to six wins, when as they say in Nashville, a Same Ole Vandy play ended with a lost fumble and a 5-6 record after getting drilled by the Vols in the final game.
In both instances, Woody lost his teams. It got ugly in 2001, when he was quoted in the newspaper after his team lost at home to Middle Tennessee, that his team “just didn’t know how to win.”
Woody has to get some credit for developing Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, and Andy Russell, making them the top linebacking trio in the NFL for multiple years and one of the top 10 ever.