MSU hires new head football coach

A week after the head coach of the Missouri State University Bears football team exited for a new coaching opportunity, a new leader is poised to take the helm.

MSU announced today that Casey Woods will be 23rd head football coach in the program’s history, according to a news release. The MSU Board of Governors gave formal approval to a five-year contract for Woods, who has spent the previous four seasons as offensive coordinator and football chief of staff at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. It will mark his first head coaching job.

According to his contract, Woods will be paid a first-year salary of $700,000, with annual increases boosting the amount to $850,000 by Jan. 1, 2030. He is expected to be formally introduced as head coach at a news conference in early January.

Woods, 42, replaces Ryan Beard, who had coached the team since 2022. Beard was announced Dec. 12 as the new head football coach of Conway, South Carolina-based Coastal Carolina University, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. Beard led the Bears this year in their first season as a member of Conference USA and as part of the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The season resulted in MSU’s first FBS bowl game, the inaugural Xbox Bowl, held last night in Frisco, Texas.

With Nick Petrino, the Bears offensive coordinator, serving as interim head coach for the game, the Bears fell 34-28 to Arkansas State University. The team finished the season at 7-6.

Patrick Ransdell, MSU director of athletics, said in the release that Woods brings a wealth of experience to Springfield and a brand of football Bears fans will enjoy.

“We are thrilled to welcome Casey Woods as our next head football coach,” Ransdell said in the release. “Casey is an absolute winner. He is going to continue our upward trajectory with an unwavering commitment to developing student-athletes on and off the field. His ability to develop offensive talent and recruit top-level talent will make him an ideal fit for Missouri State. I look forward to the Springfield community getting to know Casey, Lauren and the entire Woods family in the coming months.”

Prior to SMU, Woods, served as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator for the Missouri Tigers for two seasons, according to the release. Other prior coaching stops for Woods includes University of Alabama at Birmingham, Auburn University and University of Tennessee.

“It is the honor of my lifetime to have the opportunity to be the head football coach of the Missouri State Bears,” Woods said in the release. “Lauren and I, and our five kids – Waverly, Sawyer, Adaline, Amelia and Savannah – are eager to get to work pouring into our team, staff, university, the city of Springfield and all those invested in Missouri State football. We will hit the ground running as we seek to capitalize off the current momentum, alignment and success to bring a championship to Springfield.”

The arrival of Woods comes amid rising revenue for the football program, MSU officials say. Ransdell told Springfield Business Journal earlier this month that the program’s revenue surpassed $500,000 this year.

“On the records that I can find, that was the largest revenue year, at least in the past 10 years,” Ransdell said, noting revenues during most previous years in the decade ranged $200,000-$250,000. “We more than doubled what we did last year.”

Ransdell said its revenue increase was boosted by an all-time high in football season tickets. MSU sold 1,603 season tickets, surpassing the record total of 1,570 reached in 2007.