AP FILE PHOTO - Iowa special teams coordinator LeVar Woods stands on the sideline before a college football game against Oregon on Nov. 8 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Long-time Iowa special teams coordinator LeVar Woods has left the Iowa program and will take on a new position at Michigan State, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz told the media on Thursday.

According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, Woods will be the assistant head coach and special teams coordinator at Michigan State under new head coach Pat Fitzgerald. Woods will coach Iowa through the ReliaQuest Bowl on New Year’s Eve.

Woods has been the head of Iowa’s special teams unit since March of 2017 and has been in charge of one of the most consistent and highly decorated special teams units in college football the last couple of years.

“The University of Iowa gave me more than football,” Woods said Thursday. “It gave me my life.”

This is as exciting as it gets for a special teams coordinator hiring.

The Hawkeyes have been known for being one of the best teams in the country at football’s third phase. Their superiority in that phase is a big reason Iowa defeated Michigan State when the two programs met in November.

Fitzgerald pulling Woods away from his previous stop is particularly impressive because Woods is an Iowa alumnus and has coached for the Hawkeyes and Kirk Ferentz in some capacity since 2008.

Woods played for Ferentz in Iowa City and eventually turned that into an NFL career.

He appeared in games for the Arizona Cardinals, Detroit Lions, and the Tennessee Titans, where he played a lot of special teams. Woods also played linebacker.

Every year, it has seemed like Iowa has had an ace up its sleeve when it comes to special teams. Woods was most recently coaching one of college football’s best kick and punt returners ever, Kaden Wetjen. He returned a punt for a touchdown against the Spartans last month, and ended up scoring four special teams touchdowns this past season alone. Wetjen has six total touchdown returns for his career (two kickoff, four punt).

The kicking game has also been good for the Hawkeyes. Kicker Drew Stevens has made nearly 80% of his field goals during his career and has made 18 career kicks from 50-plus yards.

Lest we also forget the thing that Iowa has been so good at that it’s been made fun of for it: punting. Woods coached former Hawkeye punter and All-American Tory Taylor, who became so good that the Chicago Bears spent a fourth-round pick on him.

The punting has remained a strength for Iowa after Taylor left. Their current punter is Rhys Dakin, who was an honorable mention All-Big Ten this year after averaging 43.2 yards per punt, with him placing 16 inside the 20-yard line to only three touchbacks. Dakin might have been even better the year before, reaching second-team all-conference from the media when he averaged 44.1 yards per punt.

Woods is one of the first true “outside” hires that Fitzgerald has made. Some of the other on-field hires to this point have been the retainings of defensive coordinator Joe Rossi and safeties coach James Adams.

New names on the staff have been linebackers coach Max Bullough, defensive line coach Winston DeLattiboudere III, and strength and conditioning coach Joel Welsh.