Kevin Woods Proves He's Coach of the Year
The 2011 basketball season has been a dream come true for Kevin Woods. A former player for the Valley Regional High School basketball team, he's dreamed of winning a state title his whole life and, while he never experienced that feat as a player, he's done what no Valley boys' basketball coach has ever done: lead his team to a state title and all in his first full season as a head coach.
"Now that it's settling in, it's pretty amazing. I think I'm in a very fortunate, unique situation to have the kind of kids that I have, the amount of talent, and the coaching staff we have," says Kevin, who was recently named Shoreline Conference Coach of the Year. "I'm very spoiled for someone in his first full season to have the kind of season some people don't even get in a lifetime. I'm incredibly blessed and fortunate. I look at someone who's been in the game as long as my dad [Steve Woods] and you don't always get teams like this, and when you have a team like this, you have to try to capitalize and for us to be able to do that, it's pretty special."
Kevin bleeds Warrior blood. A 1999 Valley Regional graduate, Kevin played football, basketball, and baseball and was captain of the football and basketball teams during his career. He was an all-conference and All-State player in football as a linebacker and fullback, a top scorer for the basketball team, and the pitcher for the baseball squad. After graduation, he went on to play Division II football for St. Anselm College in New Hampshire and graduated with a history degree before earning a master's in special education from Southern Connecticut State University.
"My coaching career started right after graduation. I was at a track meet at Valley watching my sister run and Tim [King] told me there was a football position open and I jumped on it," says Kevin. "I was the running back/linebacker position coach for awhile and am now the offensive coordinator and have been for the past four years."
The Valley football team posted an undefeated record last fall, winning the conference title and losing in the Class S semifinals.
"This past season was the best we've ever had. You look at a lot of these guys and they know how to win. The kids make the plays and my job is to put them in the best position possible in terms of what plays to run and when it comes down to it, they have to do the work," says Kevin. "I feel like if I put them in the right spot, they'll make the great plays. My job is to not get outfoxed by the other coach."
Kevin started his basketball coaching career soon after football after realizing how much he missed being a part of the game.
"After coming to watch my dad coach, I'd sit around and shoot in the gym after all the games. I just missed it so much," says Kevin.
He got his first gig as assistant coach under Don McDougall seven years ago and stepped up the past couple of years when coaching changes left open holes to fill. As the head coach for most of the season last year, he led the team to an 18-7 record and on a trip to the Class S semifinals, but this season trumped the 2009-10 campaign with a 19-1 regular-season record and a state championship win at Mohegan Sun.
"This season has been about a lot of hard work, starting literally the day we lost to Hyde in the state semifinals last year," says Kevin, who is currently a special education para-educator at Valley. "We've always talked about it, dreamed about it, and knew it could be a good possibility that we had a shot at it. It's something you dream of-from the time I was a little kid and watched my dad coach, I dreamed he would win while coaching, and then coming up to play under my dad at Valley. We always had that dream to finally get one for Valley."
Having led the Warriors from an 1-19 record just three years ago to a 19-1 record this year, Kevin rightfully earned the Shoreline Conference Coach of the Year Award for this season.
"Honestly, if I could've traded it to win the Shoreline Conference Championship, I would've," says Kevin. "It's about those guys in the locker room, celebrating. I have a lot of people to thank, especially my dad, Steve Woods. A lot of my coaching ability and skill comes from him-I grew up watching him and a lot of the characteristics and philosophies are a direct influence of him. It's ironic, because I've always wanted him to be the guy to get that state win because playing under him. I know how bad he wanted it and how much he deserved it. He coaches with such passion and loves the kids he coaches and treats them like family. I really care about the guys I coach and it's definitely something I inherited from him. I also want to thank Don McDougall for giving me my first shot at coaching basketball-I learned a lot from him and for him to give me a chance to coach, I'll always be grateful to him, as well as Tim King, who gave me my first shot at coaching period-I'm very grateful to these guys. I want to thank Ian Nevaisser and the administration for giving me the chance to be a coach and Jeff Bernardi, who has been my assistant and I consider him more of an associate-he's a phenomenal coach and he's like a brother to me and I'm very fortunate to have him, and the players who I've been with the past four years. It's been quite a ride from 1-19 to 19-1 and it's a testament to their character that they're strong enough to persevere through that. Just like winning's contagious, losing can be, too, and they had to learn to win and it wasn't an easy job. Last but not least, I have to thank the community for embracing this team and giving us the energy and support throughout the tournament. Filling up the Sun the way we did, it was great to see. I also want to thank all the past coaches for putting in years of work and dedication to get the team to this point and the local papers-our players really appreciate it and we as a team appreciate it."