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Sherman Wood
Head Football Coach
Email:
slwood@salisbury.edu
With victories in 34 of 42 games over the past four seasons, Sherman Wood
has elevated the Sea Gull football program to among the ranks of the
national elite in NCAA Division III. Now serving in his seventh year at Salisbury and his
13th season as a
collegiate head coach, Wood hopes to continue building on the program's recent successes.
Included among the numerous recent successes for the Salisbury football program
are: appearances in the NCAA play-off tournament in both 2002 and 2004; an
undefeated regular season in 2004; claiming the championship of the Atlantic
Central Football Conference in 2004; claiming an ECAC Southeast Bowl
Championship in 2005; winning streaks of seven, nine and ten
games during the past three seasons; and consistent national rankings in the
weekly Top 25 poll, including a best-ever #5 ranking in 2004.
In 2002, Wood guided Salisbury to its most successful campaign in
16 years, finishing with a final 9-2 record, including nine straight wins at
one point. The Gulls earned the program's first NCAA playoff appearance since 1986 and
placed 15 players on the all-conference teams. In 2003, SU followed with a 7-2 campaign, with both losses coming by one point, and climbed
as high as #15 in the weekly national ranking. Salisbury then registered the
third undefeated regular season in team history in 2004 while finishing with a
final 10-1 record.
A 1984 graduate of the University and a four-year letterman on the Sea Gull football team,
Wood (45-26 at SU, 68-63-1 overall) returned to his alma mater in 1999 as the
sixth head coach in Salisbury football history. He returned to Salisbury after spending six years as the head coach at Bowie State (MD) University.
Under Wood's leadership, Salisbury produced the Atlantic Central
Football Conference's Rookie of the Year for three straight seasons from 2000 to
2002. The Gulls added a number of individual awards in 2004, including the
ACFC's Offensive, Defensive and Special Teams Players of the Year.
Wood was also selected by his peers as the conference's 2004 Coach of the Year.
All told, under his direction, the Sea Gulls have produced 71 all-conference
performers in six seasons.
The Gulls have had five 1,000-yard rushers
in Wood's six seasons as head coach, and finished fourth in the nation in
rushing offense in 2002 with an average of 313.5 yards per game. In 2003,
Salisbury finished fifth in the nation in total defense and seventh in rushing
defense. In 2004, SU was sixth in rushing offense (311.5 ypg) and seventh in
scoring defense, 13.1 ppg. In 2005, Wood guided the Sea Gulls to another stellar
performance running the football, finishing sixth in the nation in rushing
offense (330.4 ypg).
Wood, 44, played defensive back for the Sea Gulls from 1980-1983 and finished with seven career
interceptions, including two returns for touchdown. He was a starter and team captain on the
1983 team that earned Salisbury's first-ever NCAA Tournament berth and advanced to the national
semifinals. He still holds the Sea Gull record for most career interception return yards with 131.
Wood earned all-state defensive back honors by The (Baltimore) Sun and recognition as a Street
& Smith all-American during his career.
Wood began his collegiate coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Salisbury under
Mike McGlinchey in 1984 and became a graduate assistant coach for the Sea Gulls
in 1985. He moved to Bowie State as a graduate assistant coach in 1986, coaching
the defensive backs and special teams.
He became a
full-time assistant coach with the Bulldogs in 1988, assuming the duties of assistant head coach
and defensive coordinator. He remained at Bowie State as an assistant coach until 1992, when he
became the assistant head football coach at Virginia Union. One year later, in 1993, Wood
returned to Bowie State as head coach.
Wood inherited a Bowie State program that finished 1-10 in the season before he arrived.
He compiled a 21-37-1 record in six seasons at the NCAA Division II school. The team's 6-3 record
in 1998 was its best in 10 years.
Originally from Norfolk, VA, Wood is a member of the American Football Coaches
Association and serves on its All-America Selection Committee, the Rules
Committees, and the Summer Manual Committee.
He spoke to the
AFCA members in January of 2005. His topic was entitled, “Organizing The
Tournament”.
An active member of the community, Wood is a speaker at numerous sports clinics
and involves himself with a variety of local organizations. These groups include: the Special
Olympics, the Jazz Foundation, the Wicomico Youth Mentor Program and the
Salisbury Middle School Gentlemen's Club, among others.
In addition to his bachelor's degree from Salisbury University, Wood earned his master's degree from
Bowie State. Wood and his wife Tonya have one daughter, Sherece.
12-7-05 |
