Straight from the rumor mill, the latest headlines say that John Wozniak, former Oklahoma State Cowboys running backs coach, will move to Arizona State. The Sun Devils will hire him as an offensive analyst. This might be a sleeper staff recruit; Wozniak brings with him some serious experience and game knowledge, and having him on board will exceptionally benefit ASU. But who is John Wozniak, who easily has one of the best careers as an assistant coach in the Big 12 conference?
Wozniak has been behind some great players like Ollie Gordon II and Chuba Hubbard. A heap of players trained under him have been in the run for a multitude of awards and honors, including the Heisman trophy. The former Cowboys coach also single-handedly improved the rushing game at OSU in his first three years at the program. There are many more such records and accomplishments he has pulled in his extensive career, spanning more than two decades. His expertise is in a myriad of arenas related to offense and special teams.
What is John Wozniak’s coaching and playing background?
John Wozniak entered college football as a quarterback for Knox and earned an honorable mention in the 1998 All-American conference. The call to coaching came soon after, becoming the program’s offensive coordinator eventually. From there, Wozniak has gone on to coach some of the biggest names in college football: LSU and Alabama. In Alabama, he held the position of special-teams analyst under Nick Saban. Those are two programs that are sitting heavy on his resume.
Wozniak also coached Southern Miss as a special teams coach, but also dabbled with the wide receivers. In his first season there, he was instrumental in getting the receivers to script records. Mike Thomas made single-season school records for 1,391 receiving yards and 14 touchdown receptions, while Casey Martin had a school-best 80 receptions in a season. Here, Wozniak also coached Corey Acosta, who earned first-team All-Conference USA honors. The placekicker was in the run-up to win the Lou Garza Award and the Wuerffel trophy.
If that was not enough to wow you, then this next piece of info will. Wozniak was part of two national championship-winning teams. He was with LSU when they won in 2007 and with the 2012 Alabama team. Now an offensive analyst at Arizona State, Wozniak will leave Oklahoma State after seven years as their RB coach.
What was John Wozniak’s salary at Oklahoma State and his potential earnings at ASU?
Wozniak’s salary has grown steadily over the year, which is a testament to his coaching talent. During his time at Southern Miss, his salary rose from $90,000 to $120,500. At Oklahoma State, that number also saw a steady incline. He began in 2017 with $250,000 and received that package until 2020.
In the next 4 years, that number continued to grow. In 2021, his salary was $350,000. In 2022, it jumped to $425,000. At the end of his Cowboys stint, his salary was $475,000. In all, his total earnings at OSU should amount to around $2.5 million. Wozniak’s Arizona State salary is yet to be disclosed, but it’s a high-enough number. The norm is that analysts get paid less than full-time coaches. But the offer must have been lucrative enough for Wozniak to move to Arizona.
Excited to join the staff @ASUFootball ! Forks Up!
— Coach Wozniak (@JohnWozniak2) March 26, 2025
What led to John Wozniak’s move to Arizona State?
Despite his experience, the poor 2024 season at OSU could not be prevented. The Cowboys turned in a dismal score of 3-9, with zero wins in the conference. This was, without a doubt, one of the poorest seasons of the program. If Mike Gundy thought nothing could’ve beaten his 2005 record, he proved himself wrong with the 2024 season. Even more embarrassing is the fact that they couldn’t even make it to a Bowl game, which is the bare minimum of all programs as they enter a season.
All sides were to blame for this loss. Both the offense, especially the quarterbacks, and the defense put forward a sorry performance. The defense, in particular, was extremely shoddy, and Gundy was ready to see staff leaving camp after such a result. Save for the strength and conditioning coach and the special teams staff, Gundy has made a complete overhaul of the staff at Oklahoma State. Wozniak joined the entire departing offensive staff: OC Kasey Dunn, QB coach Tim Rattay, OL coach Charlie Dickey, and TE coach Jason McEndoo. Wozniak was replaced by Corey Patterson from Purdue.
But things are not that glum-looking for Wozniak anymore, since he has a good position with ASU at the moment. He will join hands with head coach Kenny Dillingham for the 2025 season, assessing games for the team’s offense. While it is a drop from an esteemed coach position, the analyst role indicates that maybe he’s choosing to take things a little easy at the moment. But that does not mean Wozniak is resting easy, too. Spring is already underway, and Arizona has a lot of things on the offensive side waiting to be addressed by him.
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