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Joe Woodley, former Grand View coach, takes over as Drake's head football coach.

Woodley's early enthusiasm energized the Drake players, boosting their confidence.

Woodley aims to replicate his success at Grand View, including a national championship, at Drake.

A few hours after accepting the head coaching job at Drake, Joe Woodley got on a Zoom call with members of his new team.

Woodley, who had previously been a successful coach at Grand View, explained to them who he was and why he was excited to come to Drake. The players, most of them many miles away from the school while on holiday break, quickly started buying into Woodley.

“I don’t know how he did it but he got us raring to go,” Drake running back Taj Hughes said during the team’s annual media day on Aug.

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