FootballScoop

Less than four weeks after its dismissal of head coach Trent Dilfer, UAB is narrowing its focus in the search for Dilfer's replacement, FootballScoop has learned.

John Brice
John Brice
11/7/2025 9:25:12 PM

Less than four weeks after its dismissal of head coach Trent Dilfer, UAB is narrowing its focus in the search for Dilfer’s replacement, FootballScoop has learned. 

In an ongoing search that was initiated after Dilfer’s dismissal on October 12 and that has spanned both the FBS and FCS ranks, Casey Woods has emerged as a target of interest for the Blazers, who are using Drew Turner’s CSA search and consulting to spearhead the process that also is under the purview of UAB Athletics DIrector Mark Ingram and school president Ray Watts.

There are multiple layers of familiarity for Woods, currently the fourth-year offensive coordinator for Rhett Lashlee at SMU, and Ingram.

Both Ingram and Woods are University of Tennessee graduates and former Vols football players, though their playing careers were separated by approximately a decade.

However, Ingram was a senior associate A.D. on Rocky Top in 2007, when Woods wrapped up his playing career as a wideout for the Vols and immediately transitioned into a graduate assistant coaching role.

Additionally, the two have shared history as colleagues at UAB. Woods was a top assistant coach under former UAB head man Bill Clark, serving as the Blazers’ recruiting coordinator and tight ends coaching during a three-year stint last decade that overlapped with Clark’s leadership in football and unfolded just years after Ingram was tabbed as A.D. in 2015.

Familiarity with UAB, its resources, the state of Alabama and the program’s potential all have been key components of the UAB search.

Aside from being a top offensive assistant at UAB from 2017-19, Woods logged a total of six seasons’ experience in two different stints at Auburn University. He was an offensive quality control coach for the Tigers from 2009-11, helping Auburn win a national title with Cam Newton at quarterback, and then also served as the program’s director of player personnel from 2013-15. Woods has additional SEC experience at the University of Missouri.

Since teaming with Lashlee at SMU, Woods has helped the Mustangs emerge as an offensive force even through the program’s transition to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), which included the program’s run to the ACC title game and an at-large College Football Playoffs appearance in 2024. 

And it’s been a fairly in-depth process, a number of sources in recent weeks have told FootballScoop.

Woods, who emerged earlier this week on the heels of an interview with the Blazers, is just one of several candidates who has been vetted.

Sources indicated to FootballScoop that Presbyterian coach Steve Englehart, Mercer’s Mike Jacobs and even current Western Michigan head man Lance Taylor, an Alabama native who played his high school football in the state and collegiately for the Crimson Tide, all were coaches of interest early in the process for the Blazers.

Missouri State’s Ryan Beard, who has emerged as a strong person of interest for multiple schools in this coaching cycle, also was someone UAB closely vetted. After guiding Missouri State to an eight-win season in 2024, he has led the Bears to an 5-3 mark and 3-1 record in Conference USA this season — the program’s first as an FBS resident.