Humboldt State head coach Tom Wood, right, and assistant coach Steve Kinder confer during last week's game vs. CSU East Bay.
ARCATA — The man responsible for building Humboldt State into a perennial powerhouse in NCAA Division II men’s basketball will step down from his head coaching position following the 2009-10 season.
Tom Wood, who has guided the Lumberjacks to 10 NCAA postseason appearances during his 29 years directing the program, announced his plans to retire Tuesday. Currently 62, Wood has been coaching at the collegiate level for 37 years.
“I’m proud of the progress we’ve made in building the program into a regional and national power,” Wood said. “It’s going well here, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to go out on a positive note. The timing just seems right, for me personally, and in the best interest of the program.”
Midway through the 2009-10 season, Wood has compiled a 453-348 career record, all achieved as head coach at HSU. During his tenure, Wood’s teams have posted eight 20-win seasons, a feat not accomplished once by any of the other head coaches in the Lumberjacks’ 83 seasons of intercollegiate men’s basketball.
“Tom’s commitment to Humboldt State has been illustrated in both his program’s success and the community support it has generated,” Humboldt State Athletic Director Dan Collen said. “He has consistently set a high standard of excellence.
“Most important has been Tom’s commitment to the student-athletes he’s directed. He has always conducted his program with the players’ best interests in mind, academically, athletically and personally.”
Wood’s program has flourished during the scholarship era at HSU, posting an overall record of 207-74 during the new millennium. That success has been especially impressive on the Jacks’ home court, where Wood’s teams have recorded an impressive 121-17 record in Lumberjack Arena and its predecessor, the East Gym.
In the past decade Wood has coached seven All-Americans, and three of his players have been named NCAA Division II West Region Player of the Year.
“Interacting with the players, coaching them and preparing them, has been the most rewarding part of this job,” Wood said. “That continues with seeing them go on to their own successes in life, and thinking their experience here might have had something to do with that. I’ll miss that the most.”
As a member of the California Collegiate Athletic Association for the past three years, Wood’s teams have won two league titles. In their fourth season as a CCAA member, the Jacks are currently in second place with a 9-3 record, and are 12-5 overall.
Prior to joining the CCAA, HSU experienced similar success in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. During their five years in the GNAC, Wood directed the Jacks to three GNAC titles.
The 2003-04 season was a record setting year for the program. Under Wood’s direction the program achieved its first ever NCAA Division II West Region title and a NCAA DII Elite Eight appearance. The Jacks finished with a program-record 28 wins.
A local resident who starred in basketball at South Fork High School in Miranda during his own prep career, Wood furthered his development as a player at UC Davis. He eventually earned a M.A. degree in Physical Education at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and began his coaching career with an eight-year stint as an assistant at that school, helping the program achieve three conference titles, two regional championships and one appearance in the NCAA Division II Final Four.
Wood returned to his Humboldt County roots in 1981-82, and quickly turned the Jacks into winners as they posted an 18-12 record in his second season.
In 1983, Wood was named co-Coach of the Year for the Northern California Athletic Conference after taking the Jacks to the NCAC championship.
The following season, 1984-85, Wood led the Jacks to an NCAC co-championship after his team won more games (21) than any other team in school history. The 1984-85 squad then advanced to the NCAA Division II West Region Championships, then repeated the feat five years later when they posted a 20-11 overall mark and earned another NCAC title.
When HSU joined the GNAC in 2000-2001, the Lumberjacks returned to the NCAA postseason with a squad laden with freshman, posting a season record of 20-8. Three more trips to the postseason followed, culminating in the 2003-04 Elite Eight appearance and first round victory that sent HSU to a semi-final game against eventual champion Kennesaw State.
Wood’s honors include being named Great Northwest Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2001-02 and West Region Division II Coach of the Year in 1989-90.