John Woodworth Wilce (May 12, 1888 – May 17, 1963) was an American college football player and coach, physician, and university professor.

[1] Wilce was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and attended West Division High School where he was captain of the basketball team and also competed in track and field.

[5][6] Wilce resigned his post at La Crosse in July 1911 to accept a position as graduate manager of athletics at the University of Wisconsin.

[citation needed] In April 1913, Wilce was hired as the head football coach at Ohio State University.

With consensus All-American halfback Chic Harley leading the way, Wilce's 1916 team compiled a perfect 7–0 record and won Ohio State's first conference championship.

Wilce's 1920 team, led by halfback Gaylord Stinchcomb and linemen Iolas Huffman and Tarzan Taylor, defeated Michigan for the second straight year, won the Big Ten championship, and went undefeated in the regular season.

Wilce wrote to the board: "I herewith tender my resignation as head football coach of Ohio State University to take effect June, 1929.

[11] Wilce's 16 years as Ohio State's football coach remained the longest tenure in school history until 1967 when Woody Hayes surpassed the mark.

[4] Wilce's "combination of medicine and football" and a sense of propriety that reflected his English heritage led him to try to reform the speech of his players on and off the field.

Among their many grandchildren are the lsports and outdoors photographer Anne Krause (1952–2006) and James M. "Jim" Wilce, Jr., a linguistic anthropologist at Northern Arizona University.