Nick Woodruff, a 2009 graduate with a business management degree, was recently named the assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of West Alabama in Livingston, Alabama. It is an NCAA Division II school in the Gulf South.
Prior to accepting the assistant coaching position at West Alabama, Woodruff coached at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. He also earned his M.B.A. from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2011.
Woodruff, who was recruited to play basketball for Coach Geno Ford, says, “Muskingum was a great fit academically and athletically. I was very impressed with the business program and loved the campus.”
Woodruff speaks highly of the Muskingum faculty: “[I am most thankful for] the professors… Many of my professors made a lasting impression on me and for that I am grateful. It was always more than just books and lectures; I felt that they really cared about me and my future.”
Woodruff took a few minutes to reminisce about some professors who made the strongest impression: “I remember my First-Year Seminar with Dr. Hilton and how we had to plan out the entire four years of classes to graduate and I was thinking, ‘How in the world am I going to finish?’ But I did, and in large part because I was given the tools to succeed early.
“I remember…Professor Drubel never allowing there to be a dull moment in class. I will never forget the lessons learned in Professor Golden’s class about being a professional and the summer school trip that Gary allowed a number of us to go on and have an experience of a lifetime.”
Woodruff made a number of lasting friendships at Muskingum, some of which began “on the second floor of Moore Hall as a freshman.”