Hardin-Simmons head coach Marcus Wood enters his 11th season at the helm of the Hardin-Simmons program.
The numbers are simply remarkable. He has a career record of 174-24-18 and his teams have won seven straight American Southwest Conference titles and eight overall. His teams have a streak of 118 straight games without a loss in ASC play.
His winning percentage of .847 ranks fifth all-time and is also
the fifth-best mark in all Divisions of NCAA soccer. Among Division
III coaches he ranks third. He is behind only Joe Russo of The
College of New Jersey and Scott Frey of Messiah, who are both
Division III legends.
His teams have not shied away from going against some of the
toughest competition in the nation. In the last 10 years, the
Cowgirls have played 10 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 this August when the team went 2-1against
some top level teams from Spain.
Overall, the Cowgirls have won 12 of the 14 ASC titles that have
been awarded and eight of 10 under Wood.
In each of the last nine seasons the Cowgirls have been ranked in
the National Soccer Coaches Association of America National Poll at
some point, reaching a high of No. 4 in 2006.
Wood is already the school's all-time winningest coach. Twelve
players have been named all-region a total of 17 times under Wood's
guidance. He has coached five All-Americans at HSU, including two
current Cowgirls Carlyn Powers and Amy Kuykendall. Mollie Porter,
Christi Carr and Whitney Piendak are the other three
All-Americans.
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 and they have a
daughter, Kamryn.
