Matt Walker, who coached Wisconsin-River Falls to the NCAA Division III football championship last month, was named the new coach at Drake on Sunday, Feb. 22.
Walker replaces Joe Woodley, who resigned after one season with the Bulldogs to become a defensive assistant at Rutgers.
“We are thrilled to welcome Matt Walker,” Drake Athletic Director Brian Hardin said in a statement. “Matt inherited a program routinely at the bottom of its conference and turned it into one of the best programs in the country.”
Walker, who started his River Falls tenure with nine consecutive losing seasons, went 44-13 with the Falcons the past five years. In 2025, the Falcons went 14-1 overall and 6-1 in the WIAC to win their first outright conference title since 1985. They defeated defending champion North Central (Ill.) 24-14 in the Stagg Bowl on Jan. 4 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.
Following the season, Walker was named the WIAC and Division III coach of the year.
“I’m not sure there are words to properly explain how much I love River Falls and how much I appreciate everything it has given me and my family,” Walker said in a statement. “I’ve given everything I had to UWRF and feel good about leaving it in a better place than we found it.”
Jake Wissing will be the interim head coach. Wissing, an assistant on Walker’s staff since 2011, has been the Falcons defensive coordinator the past five seasons.
Walker, a native of Crawfordsville, Ind., takes over a Drake team that has won three consecutive Pioneer League titles while going 24-11 the past three seasons.
