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Third & Shorts

Football Loses a Legend

National high school football coaching icon Gordon Wood died at age 89 on Wednesday, Dec. 17. He suffered from kidney failure after undergoing a heart procedure at Abilene Regional Medical Center in Texas.

Wood, who at one time was the winningest high school coach in the nation, won nine state championships back when there were fewer classes and only one title per class, coached at eight schools and compiled a 396-91-15 record from 1940-85. He’s mostly identified with Brownwood, where he won seven titles in 26 years and went 257-52-7, reaching the playoffs 19 times and never having a losing season.

A member of both the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame and the National High School Hall of Fame, Wood was named as the National High School Football Coach of the Year in 1979.

He was named as runner-up to University of Texas coaching legend Darrell Royal as “Coach of the Century” in the December 1999 issue of Texas Monthly.

“Football has lost a real treasure,” Royal told reporters after Wood’s death. “He had the magic. There’s no question about that.”

Wood lost his status as the nation’s winningest coach nearly a decade ago, but remained the leader in Texas until G.A. Moore, of Pilot Point High School, surpassed him in 2002.

Wood coached at Roscoe (1945-46), Seminole (1947-49), Winters (1950) and Stamford, where he went 80-6 with two state championships from 1951-57.

Overtime Changes?

Fifty-seven coaches, representing nearly half of the 117 NCAA Division I-A schools, responded to a USA Today survey question: “Do you favor changing the rules for overtime to force teams to go for two points starting with the first overtime, rather than waiting until the third overtime?”

By a vote of 42-15, the coaches preferred to continue the current rule of waiting until the third overtime before a two-point attempt is mandatory.

A mandatory two-point conversion attempt could shorten overtimes because the success rate is less than half of a point-after attempt.

Texas coach Mack Brown said a change should be made to protect players. “You see kids crawling off the field ... if you play for five hours and you get home at 5 in the morning, that’s not safe.”

AFCA names 2003 Assistant COY winners

The American Football Coaches Association announced its 2003 Assistant Coach of the Year winners. One assistant coach in the five different divisions of college football was selected for their dedication to their teams and communities.

The winners for this award were selected in NCAA Divisions I-A, I-AA, II, III and the NAIA.

The Assistant Coach of the Year award was first presented in 1997 and was created to honor assistant coaches who excel in community service, commitment to the student-athlete, on-field coaching success and AFCA professional organization involvement.

The 2003 honorees are: Division I-A-Chuck Petersen, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks and Fullbacks Coach, U.S. Air Force Academy; Division I-AA-Donovan Rose, Assistant Head Coach & Defensive Backs Coach, Hampton University; Mike Turner, Offensive Coordinator, Carson-Newman College; Pedro Arruza, Defensive Coordinator, Washington University (Mo.); and Mike Gardner, Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator, Tabor College (Clinic p. 34).

Transactions
Head Coaches

DECEMBER: Jim Miceli resigned as head coach at Bryant ... Al Seagraves was released as head coach at Elon and reassigned to administrative and teaching responsibilities at the school ... Southwest State’s Curt Strasheim resigned after four years as head coach. The school announced Ralph Radtke, offensive coordinator, as interim head coach ... Eddie Brister, head coach at Texas A&M-Commerce for the past five years, retired ... Wayne State (Michigan) will not renew the contract of Steve Kazor, who had guided the program for four seasons ... Tom Cable was released after four seasons as head coach at Idaho ... Richard S. Basil was chosen as head coach at Savannah State ... Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville was awarded a one-year contract extension through the 2008 season ... Scotty Conley was hired as head coach at Texas A&M-Commerce.

JANUARY: J.D. Brookhart was hired as head coach at Akron to replace Lee Owens. Brookhart has been offensive coordinator at Pittsburgh ... Brown signed Phil Estes to a multiyear contract extension as head coach. Estes has guided the program for six years ... Bryant hired Marty Fine as head coach to succeed Jim Miceli ... Paul Winters was selected as head coach at Wayne State (Michigan) ... Mike DeBord resigned after four years as head coach Central Michigan ... Chris Woods was chosen as head coach at Stonehill.

Assistants

DECEMBER: North Carolina’s Jim Fleming resigned as defensive backs coach ... J.B. Grimes was hired as offensive line coach at Mississippi State.

JANUARY: Ellis Johnson was hired as defensive coordinator at Mississippi State ... Arizona chose Charlie Williams as running backs coach and Tim Kish as defensive line coach ... Louisiana-Monroe chose Junior Smith as running backs coach ... Hofstra’s Jeff Behrman resigned as receivers coach.

Transactions: courtesy of NCAA News