{"id":716424,"date":"2026-01-30T12:01:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T12:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/716424\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T12:01:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T12:01:39","slug":"pioneering-nfl-coach-kim-wood-who-transformed-how-players-prepare-for-games-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/716424\/","title":{"rendered":"Pioneering NFL coach Kim Wood, who transformed how players prepare for games, dies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/profile-1501\/jack-bezants.html\" class=\"author\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">JACK BEZANTS, US DEPUTY SPORTS EDITOR<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  14:22 EST, 29 January 2026   |  Updated:  14:32 EST, 29 January 2026   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Kim Wood, the first ever full-time strength coach in the history of the NFL, has died at the age of 80 following a brief illness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Wood spent 27 years with the <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/cincinnati-bengals\/index.html\" id=\"mol-1e1fbb30-fd37-11f0-b88e-575a47e2c79b\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> and worked with countless NFL stars to meet the physical demands of the league.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">His impact was summed up legendary Bengals linebacker Reggie Williams, who posted an emotional statement on <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sciencetech\/facebook\/index.html\" id=\"mol-1dfd3f10-fd37-11f0-b88e-575a47e2c79b\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Facebook<\/a> about Wood.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Sadly, I was told that Cincinnati Bengals Strength and Conditioning Coach Kim Wood passed away,&#8217; Williams wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;No other one person is responsible for turning an Ivy League prospect into a 14 year starting linebacker in the NFL than Kim Wood.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;If he demanded one more rep, I would give him two. Absolutely no steroids! Just 8-12 perfect reps to failure, three times a week, keep a chart, don\u2019t cheat yourself, and always improve, every workout, no matter where you are on the planet.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-f858afa24e98180c\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/105944433-15510307-image-a-1_1769714427475.jpg\" height=\"357\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Kim Wood, the first ever full-time strength coach in the history of the NFL, has died\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Kim Wood, the first ever full-time strength coach in the history of the NFL, has died<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Pain is your friend. Only appears when making you stronger. Rest In Eternity my friend.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Hall of Fame left tackle Anthony Munoz revealed how Woods would judge the strength of players on how they shook his hand.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;He believed in the hands, the forearm, and the grip. He was on the cutting edge of core work and arm strength,&#8217; Munoz said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;He understood the game so well. He understood what part of your body needed to be really emphasized to be the best.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Another ex-Bengals hero,\u00a0Tim Krumrie, mourned his passing by saying to the Bengals website: &#8216;I&#8217;ve lost a great friend, great coach, great guy.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He leaves behind four children and nine grandchildren.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        Pioneering NFL coach Kim Wood, who transformed how players prepare for games, dies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JACK BEZANTS, US DEPUTY SPORTS EDITOR Published: 14:22 EST, 29 January 2026 | Updated: 14:32 EST, 29&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,3225,7,6,817],"class_list":{"0":"post-716424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cincinnatibengals","12":"tag-dailymail","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sport"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115983948425811193","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}