Alex Wood begins his third season as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Buffalo. 

In 2012, UB’s offense rushed for 2,120 yards and passed for 2,391 yards. It was the first time in the Division I-A era to rush and pass for over 2,000 yards. In addition, Alex Neutz became just the third receiver in school history with 1,000 receiving yards in a single season.

In his first season as offensive coordinator, the offense saw significant improvement. UB averaged eight more points and 68 more yards of total offense per game than in 2010. Buffalo had 13 plays of 40 or more yards in 2011 - the most in its Division I era. 

As wide receiver coach, Wood coached Marcus Rivers to his first All-MAC selection. In addition, Alex Nuetz had the best season of his young career with a team-high 641 receiving yards in only nine games.

Wood brought with him over 30 years of experience at the Division I level and he has also served as a coordinator in the National Football League. He spent the past season as wide receivers coach at Miami University where he helped the RedHawks claim a Mid-American Conference championship a year removed from winning just one game.

His coaching career is highlighted by tremendous success at the highest levels of both college and professional football. From 1989-93 he was part of Dennis Erickson’s staff for the Miami Hurricanes, coaching the running backs, while helping the Canes to a pair of National Championships (1989 and 1991) and a perfect 12-0 season in 1991.

Wood has also been a wide receiver coach in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals, a quarterback coach for the Minnesota Vikings and the offensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals.

After serving as offensive coordinator for two seasons at Wake Forest (1993-94), he was named as the head football coach at James Madison University. Wood led the Dukes to an 8-4 record in his first season including a trip to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. In his four-year tenure at JMU, Wood compiled a record of 23-22.

Wood moved into the pro ranks in 1999, when he was hired by Dennis Green as the quarterbacks coach of the Minnesota Vikings. He spent four seasons with the Vikings’ organization. In his first year with the team, the Vikings selected Daunte Culpepper in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft. By Culpepper’s second season, the young star not only took over the starting quarterback job but earned a start for the National Football Conference (NFC) in the Pro Bowl. He tied for the NFL lead with 33 passing touchdowns and ranked second in the NFC with 3,937 yards. Culpepper led the Vikings to the NFC Central title and a spot in the conference championship game.

In 2001, Culpepper was lost to a season-ending injury but still managed to finish third in the NFC in completion percentage (64.2). The Culpepper-Wood combination was back at it again in 2002. Culpepper spearheaded the NFL’s second-ranked offensive unit and in the process the Vikings’ quarterback finished second in the NFC in passing yardage (3,853) for the second time in Wood’s tenure.

Wood was named wide receivers coach by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2003. In his one year in Cincinnati, Wood coached two players in the top 10 of receiving yards in the AFC (Chad Johnson and Peter Warrick). Johnson led the AFC with 1,355 yards on 90 receptions. He also had 10 touchdown receptions.

In 2004, Wood rejoined Green on the staff of the Arizona Cardinals. Wood served one season as the offensive coordinator for the Cardinals, overseeing the offensive staff and handling play-calling responsibilities.

He spent the 2006-07 seasons as the passing game coordinator at the University of Arkansas and ultimately ended up back in the Midwest helping the RedHawks of Miami become the first team in Division I history to go from one victory to double digit wins.

Wood is a native of Massillon, Ohio, and was a standout football player and wrestler at Washington High School. He and his wife, Rosa, have three children--Jerrel, Alex and Natalie. His son Alex is the defensive coordinator at Wayne (NE) State College.