Hardin-Simmons head coach Marcus Wood is in his 13th season at the helm of the Hardin-Simmons program.

His overall numbers are remarkable.  Wood has a career record of 218-26-19 and his teams have won nine straight American Southwest Conference titles and ten overall. The Cowgirls have a streak of 145 straight games without a loss in ASC play.

Last season the Cowgirls went 20-2 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

In 2010, he led the Cowgirls to their first NCAA Championship with a 2-1 win over Messiah in San Antonio. It was the first national team title for Hardin-Simmons since joining Division III in 1997. He was named the American Southwest Conference coach of the year and was named the national coach of the year by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

He is ranked fourth all-time in collegiate women's soccer history with an .865 winning percentage. He trails only Scott Frey of Messiah, Anson Dorrance of North Carolina and Joe Russo of The College of New Jeresey. He is the third winningest active coach on the Division III level, behind Frey and Russo.  

In team sports among NCAA coaches Wood ranks No. 11 overall in best winning percentage. He is one spot ahead of legendary Connecticut basketball coach Geno Auriemma.

His teams have not shied away from going against some of the toughest competition in the nation. In the last 11 years, the Cowgirls have played 13 teams that have advanced to at least the Final Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Striving to get to the top of the NCAA ladder, Wood has had to play most of those games on the road, either in the regular season or the NCAA playoffs. The Cowgirls have made trips to nationally ranked Wheaton, Puget Sound, Trinity, Claremont and Emory in search of the best competition. Although not always successful, the Cowgirls have been competitive in all of those on-the-road situations.

Not only do the Cowgirls go anywhere to face the best competition in season, its offseason conditioning program may be one of the best in the nation. The Cowgirls have made three trips to Europe under Wood, including a year ago August when the team went 2-1 against some top level teams from Spain.

In each of the last 11 seasons the Cowgirls have been ranked in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America National Poll at some point. The Cowgirls were No. 1 at the end of 2010 and start the 2011 season in the same spot.

Wood is already the school's all-time winningest coach. Seventeen players have been named all-region a total of 24 times under Wood's guidance. He has coached nine All-Americans at HSU. Courtney Cramer (2011), Katie Kuykendall (2010 and 2011), Brittany Vacca (2010 and 2011), Rebecca Roth (2010 and 2011), Sarah Stansell (2010), Amy Kuykendall (2006 and 2010), Carlyn Powers (2009), Whitney Piendak (2006), Christi Carr (2006) and Mollie Porter (2002).  

The program has also made great strides in facility improvements. The Cowgirls have their own practice field that is adjacent to the five-year old game field. The team also has a fieldhouse that is in its third year.

Prior to HSU, Wood was a highly-successful assistant coach at both Cumberland College (Ky.) and Gardner-Webb (N.C.) University. His most recent stop was a one-year stint at GWU, where he helped turn the program from 6-13 under the previous staff in 1998, to 13-9 in 1999. The Lady Bulldogs also upset the No. 1 team in the nation in the conference tournament.

Wood coached the Bettendorf (Iowa) Soccer Association team to the U18 Iowa State Championship in 1999. He had a 41-7-2 record as the head coach for the youth team. Also added to the resume is his ability to speak and perform at soccer clinics all around the Midwest. Known as a skillful motivator and teacher, he has conducted his annual camp called "Woody's" since 1993. The camp is for ages 6-14.

At Olivet Nazarene University in Kankakee, Ill.,Wood was team captain, team MVP, NCCAA All-Region and was a NAIA Academic All-American. Wood graduated from ONU as the school's second all-time leading scorer. Wood was also a three-time Olympic development player.

Wood holds a Premier Coaching Diploma through the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. He earned his Premier in April of 2004 in Lilleshall, U.K. He earned his master's degree from Hardin-Simmons in Sports and Recreation Management. He married the former Kelley Tragesser in December of 2005. They have two children Kamryn, who is four, and son, Alex, who was born in May.

This summer he was selected by Championshiop Productions to do instructional videos. If you would like to purchase those you can go here.