MEET THE COACHING STAFF
Dan Wodicka '14
Head Coach
Dan Wodicka was named the James F. Margraff head coach of football at Johns Hopkins on February 1, 2024. He is the 28th head coach in program history.
A 2014 Johns Hopkins graduate, Wodicka has been a member of the program for 11 years (four as a player and seven as an assistant coach) and has helped the Blue Jays to a record of 100-16 (.862), eight Centennial Conference titles, eight trips to the NCAA Playoffs and two Centennial-MAC Bowl victories. His 11 years with the program include 2020, when there was not a season played due to the COVID pandemic.
Wodicka spents two seasons as the Blue Jay defensive coordinator (2022 & 2023) prior to being promoted to head coach. Previously, he had spent three years as the team's special teams coordinator and defensive line coach (2019-21) and two years as the wide receivers coach (2014-15). He served as an assistant coach at North Michigan (2016) and Williams (2017-18) between stints on the Blue Jay staff.
THE BLUE JAY FOOTBALL TRADITION
EXPLOSIVE OFFENSE
Want to Play Fast?
Johns Hopkins has averaged at least 35.8 points per game in each of the last 13 seasons. In seven of the last 10 seasons, that average topped 40 points per game. The 2021 Blue Jays averaged a school-record 46.5 points per game.
In 11 of the last 13 years, the Blue Jay offense has averaged more than 450 yards per game ... in five of those seasons, JHU rolled up better than 500 yards per game.
Since the start of the 2016 season, Johns Hopkins has thrown for more than 300 yards in a game 50 times.
It's not all about the pass. In the last four seasons, the Blue Jays have rushed and passed for more than 200 yards in the same game 26 times.
JHU has scored 50 or more points 59 times in school history ... 37 of those 50-point games have come in the last 14 years.
DOMINATING DEFENSE
An Attacking Style
While offense grabs the headlines, the Blue Jay defense is the cornerstone of our success.
In three of the last five seasons, the opposition has completed less than 51% of its pass attempts and eight times in the last 13 years the Blue Jay defense has allowed less than 200 passing yards per game.
Johns Hopkins has held the opposition to 18 points per game or less 10 times in the last 13 years and 17 times in the last 22 years.
Johns Hopkins has allowed 3.1 yards per rush or less nine times in the last 15 years and held its 11 opponents to 2.4 yards per carry in 2022.
In the last eight years, the Johns Hopkins defense has 137 interceptions to its credit.
During the 2021, 2022 & 2023 seasons, the Blue Jays combined for 118 sacks and 70 takeaways.
16 Centennial Conference titles since 2002. The 16 championships are the most in league history.
12 trips to the NCAA Playoffs since 2005, including 10 in the last 12 seasons with a run to the NCAA Semifinals in 2018 and the Quarterfinals in 2023.
54 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, including 38 in the last 13 seasons and an all-divisions NATIONAL RECORD 8 in 2021.
12 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients.
17 players have combined to earn a total of 37 All-America nods since 2010.
The 2023 season saw the Blue Jays continue to perform at an elite level. Another 10-win season (12-1), a #8 final national ranking (AFCA and D3football.com), a 15th consecutive post-season appearance, four All-Americans and three Academic All-Americans. .
Quite simply, there is no school in the nation that offers a better combination of academics prowess and football success
THE CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE
Johns Hopkins competes in the Centennial Conference, one of the most competitive leagues in Division III.
The Blue Jays have won a league-record 16 Centennial Conference titles - all of which have come since 2002. The Blue Jays won 10 consecutive championships from 2009-18 and didn't lose a league game from 2013-16.
The Centennial Conference sent a team to the NCAA Semifinals in 2018 and 2019 and the league has posted a 27-8 post-season record in the last five seasons (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023) combined (NCAA Playoffs & Centennial-MAC Bowl Games).
FACILITIES
WELCOME TO HOMEWOOD
Johns Hopkins, founded in 1876, is America's first research university and home to nine world-class academic divisions working together as one university.
Most Johns Hopkins undergraduates study at Homewood, the 140-acre North Baltimore campus that has been home to our School of Engineering since 1914 and our School of Arts & Sciences since 1916. Today, more than 5,000 undergrads take courses offered by those two schools at Homewood, which is also home to dozens of research labs, two libraries, residence halls, administrative buildings, and athletic and recreation facilities.
ACADEMIC SUPPORT
In addition to the countless support services available to all Johns Hopkins students, the Blue Jay football program is directly supported by Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Success, Steve Malvaso.
Malvaso is available to Blue Jay student-athletes throughout the year to support their academic and career pursuits. He works closely with members of the coaching staff to ensure student-athletes are achieving at the highest level.
LIFE DESIGN
The Johns Hopkins University Life Design Lab, located adjacent to Homewood Field, develops the vision, strategy and plan for enhancing the professional development, career advancement, life design, connections with alumni, employer engagement, experiential learning, and mentoring opportunities for all student-athletes. In addition, trained professional staff members help plan the execution of courses, workshops, programs, content and digital resources to help students and alumni achieve their life ambitions.
THE CITY
Baltimore is an extremely accessible city, allowing students to get anywhere in the city in less than 20 minutes by way of car. From Little Italy to endless seafood, Baltimore also boasts one of the most underrated food scenes in the country.
The Homewood campus is situated in the Baltimore neighborhood of Charles Village. In addition to everything that campus has to offer, Charles Village is located just minutes away from the neighborhood of Hampden, which features a number of great shops and restaurants. Hampden is also home to everyone's favorite "Miracle on 34th Street" lights every December.
In addition to everything Baltimore has to offer, you are also less than 40 miles away from our nation's capital. Washington D.C. has one of the largest Johns Hopkins alumni bases in the country and offers a perfect location for our student-athletes to receive internship opportunities during their time at Hopkins.
PROFESSIONAL TEAMS
Baltimore is home to a pair of professional sports franchises, and the city is known to have some of the best fans in all of professional sports. The Baltimore Ravens, lead by star quarterback Lamar Jackson, are one of the most exciting young teams in the NFL after winning the AFC North division in the 2019-20 season.
The Baltimore Orioles play right next door to the Ravens, and after experiencing a few consecutive down years, new General Manager Mike Elias has the team trending in the right direction with one of the best young Farm Systems in Major League Baseball.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Today, social media plays perhaps the biggest role in creating and maintaining the brand of a program. The Johns Hopkins football program actively promotes the successes of the team and players via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Unique content, including graphics, video and more is developed and posted collaboratively by the football program and the Office of Athletic Communications.