Roderick Woods joins the Barry University women's basketball coaching staff this fall after spending last season at East Mississippi CC, director of athletics Michael L. Covone announced today.
Before EMCC, Woods spent three seasons as an assistant coach on Ashley Walker-Johnson's staff at Mississippi Valley State University of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Prior to that, Woods served in the same capacity for three years at South Carolina State University of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, where he helped coach two all-conference players. At both schools, Woods was responsible for recruiting, scheduling, budgeting, and community outreach, along with overseeing individual player skill development, scouting preparation for opposing teams, and serving as the director of team and individual summer camps.
Prior to making the jump to the university level in 2015, Woods spent 12 years as the head women's basketball coach at Clinton College in Rock Hill, S.C. He also served a majority of that tenure as the college's athletics director. Having approached the 200-mark for career wins, Woods guided the Golden Bears to five Region 10 runner-up finishes and coached three NJCAA Region 10 Players of the Year. His players also excelled in the classroom, with six of his student-athletes being named valedictorians of their graduating classes at Clinton.
Throughout his previous coaching stint in the junior college ranks, Woods also served as a tournament director for the NJCAA Region 10 men's and women's basketball tournaments played in Fort Mill, S.C. During the summer months, he previously served as an associate director at the Nike girls' basketball camps held annually in Amherst, Mass.
Woods' basketball coaching career began at his alma mater as a volunteer assistant men's basketball coach at Eastern Kentucky University during the 1996-97 season. He also spent the 1999-2000 campaign working as an assistant boys' basketball coach at Lamar (S.C.) High School.
Woods played collegiately for the Eastern Kentucky Colonels during the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons. He earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from the Richmond-based school.
A native of Florence, S.C., Woods began his college athletic and academic careers in his home state at Spartanburg Methodist College. After teaming as a freshman with two-time NJCAA Division I All-American and former NBA player James Scott to help lead SMC to the 1993 NJCAA National Tournament, Woods went on to earn All-Region 10 honors as a sophomore for the Pioneers.
Woods earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from Eastern Kentucky in 1999. With a master's degree in sports management from the American Public University in Charles Town, W.Va., Woods has three children – daughters Oriona and Kaelyn, and son, Kaiden.
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