Dan Wood has been involved in sports for most of his life. Like many, his playing experience eventually led him into coaching.
Growing up in Bellflower, Calif., Wood, 66, was a standout prep basketball and baseball player at Bellflower High School. He was awarded an athletic scholarship to play basketball at the University of California Santa Barbara where he also played baseball and earned bachelors degrees in physical education and psychology. While pursuing a masters degree in ergonomics, Wood was a graduate assistant coach on the UCSB basketball and baseball staffs.
However, Wood originally enrolled at Santa Barbara as an engineering major after strong encouragement from his father, the late Red Irvin.
He wanted me to be an engineer because he thought I would make good money, so I started off with that, Wood said.
While playing basketball and baseball for the UCSB Gauchos, it only re-enforced Woods love of sports. Thats when he decided to change his major, which ultimately, changed his life.
I quickly learned, thats what I want to do all my life. I became a P.E. major, Wood said.
Wood spent six years at Santa Barbara. Thats also where the talented all-around athlete was introduced to tennis.
I started playing tennis in college. From then on, I was hooked, Wood said.
Tennis evolved into a huge interest to Wood. He started playing doubles in the United States Tennis Association with a partner from Brazil.
Wood later moved to Ohio to teach at the University of Toledo. As an associate professor at Toledo, Wood worked on his doctorate in health promotion and human performance from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Woods dissertation was about techniques on how to decrease anxiety in playing sports. He studied athletes at the elementary, middle and high school levels, as well as college. Wood even got to study baseball players on the Pittsburgh Pirates to measure maximum athletic performance.
Upon receiving his PhD, Wood became a tenured professor at Toledo. While teaching tennis at Toledo, Wood was later named the interim head tennis coach after his predecessor resigned due to an illness. That was Woods first taste of head coaching. He continued to be an assistant at Toledo as the pitching coach of the Rockets baseball team.
Wood later moved back to California to teach and coach at the University of Santa Cruz, where he was the dean of students for six years. At UCSC, Wood was an assistant coach for both the mens and womens Banana Slugs tennis teams. In Woods tenure, the UCSC men won five NCAA Division III national championships in the 1990s and 2005.
Woods love of tennis even became published literature. He wrote a book entitled, Tennis for the University Student, Bauer Publishing Co.
Through all of Woods coaching, he has always stuck by his own philosophy.
I want participants to believe in themselves, gain confidence and composure, and effectively work with others, Wood said.
In 2008, Wood retired from UCSC and moved to Southwest Colorado in 2009 with his wife of 10 years, Janet. The two built a home near Mancos. But Dan Wood didnt relax for very long. He wanted to get back into coaching in some form.
I just missed it, Dan Wood said. As I was getting older, I wasnt getting the reinforcement from playing. I remembered how positive coaching can be.
Dan Wood looked into coaching basketball at Montezuma-Cortez High School, but there was an immediate opening for a head tennis coach at M-CHS. The school was considering dropping tennis from its athletics program, if a coach could not be hired. Dan Wood took the job.
I decided thats what I wanted. I love tennis, anyway, he said.
Wood was the M-CHS boys tennis assistant coach in 2010 and succeeded coach Jim Taccogno after the season. As head coach of the Lady Panthers tennis team, Dan Wood guided them to a fourth-place finish at regionals last spring. He is currently conducting voluntary summer workouts for the upcoming boys season.
Dan Wood has enjoyed coaching high school athletes, but he says it does present certain challenges, like patience.
I still need to learn a lot about the difference between college and high school, he said. I was working with a national championship team in the NCAA. Some of these girls (and boys) have never touched a racket before. Another mistake Ive made is that Ill go watch an opponent and be like, oh, we can beat these guys, because Im comparing them to collegiate tennis, and looking at their ability and not transposing what our ability is.
The first year of coaching at M-CHS has been a rewarding experience for Dan Wood. He says getting that motivation for players to want to improve is great.
Dan has a son named Matt Wood, who lives in California, and is the son of Mary Irvin.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at bobbya@cortezjournal.com