Sean Woods (born March 29, 1970) is an American former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and former head coach for the

Southern Jaguars basketball The Southern Jaguars basketball team is the basketball team that represents Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. The school's team currently competes in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Postseason results NAIA resul ...

team.

Playing career

Woods attended Cathedral High School in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

before playing

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

. As a

Wildcat The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

in 1992, he was a member of a senior-laden team colloquially known as the "Unforgettables" who had come to Kentucky in 1988 and had stayed with the school for all four years, despite the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

putting the university's basketball program on probation for three years, including a ban on post-season competition in both 1990 and 1991, for recruiting and academic violations in 1989. The Unforgettables were coached by

Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA D ...

and included fellow seniors

Richie Farmer Richard Dwight Farmer (born August 25, 1969) is an American former collegiate basketball player and Republican Party politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He served as the Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner from 2004 to 2012 and was the ...

Deron Feldhaus Deron Feldhaus (born December 16, 1968), is an American former basketball player. He is best known for his collegiate career with the Kentucky Wildcats. He is also one of four seniors on the 1991–92 team known as "The Unforgettables". During ...

, and

John Pelphrey John Leslie Pelphrey (born July 18, 1968) is an American college basketball coach, currently the head coach of the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles. After being named Kentucky Mr. Basketball in 1987, he became a star college player at the University ...

. The team surprised many by garnering a #2 seed and reaching the

Elite Eight In the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight teams, representing the regional finals, or national quarterfinals. In Division I and Divis ...

in the 1992 NCAA tournament. Woods and the Wildcats defeated

Old Dominion Old Dominion most commonly refers to: *The Old Dominion, a nickname for the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia ** Colony of Virginia *Old Dominion University, a public university in Norfolk, Virginia **Old Dominion Monarchs, the athletic teams represe ...

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

, and the

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medica ...

en route to the regional final. With a 29–6 record, the Wildcats faced off against

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

at the

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors i ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

with a trip to the Final Four on the line. In the finals against Duke, Woods cemented a legendary status in Kentucky lore by scoring 21 points, including a floater over

Christian Laettner Christian Donald Laettner (, ; born August 17, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player. His college career for the Duke Blue Devils is widely regarded as one of the best in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) his ...

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society), ...

. The basket gave Kentucky a 103–102 lead with 2.1 seconds remaining. However, the Unforgettables lost the game on Laettner's subsequent jumper as time expired. After Woods graduated, he was added to the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

preseason roster but did not make the team.

Coaching career

He then ran a popular basketball camp, which polished future basketball players such as

Tony Delk Tony Lorenzo Delk (born January 28, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player and college assistant coach. He last served as an assistant coach for the New Mexico State Aggies men's basketball team. During his playing days, he w ...

and

Antoine Walker Antoine Devon Walker (born August 12, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player. He was drafted with the sixth overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft out of the University of Kentucky and played in the NBA from 1996 to 2008. Walker ...

(both of whom had played at Kentucky). He was an assistant coach at

High Point University High Point University is a private university in High Point, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The university was founded as High Point College in 1924, and it became High Point University in October 1991. HPU of ...

before he moved to

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

, also as an assistant. In 2005, Woods became a charter member of the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame as part of the Unforgettables. Immediately following the Duke loss, every Kentucky senior's jersey (though not their numbers) was retired. Woods is currently fifth all-time on Kentucky's career

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

list, with 482. On June 24, 2008, Woods became the head coach of the

Mississippi Valley State University Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU, The Valley or Valley) is a public historically black university in Mississippi Valley State, Mississippi, adjacent to Itta Bena, Mississippi.Southwestern Athletic Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United States. It participates in t ...

regular season and conference tournament, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. The team lost in the

First Four The First Four is a play-in round of the NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball tournaments. It consists of two games contested between the four lowest-ranked teams in the field, and two games contested between the four lowest-seeded "a ...

round. Woods was chosen as the 2012 winner of the

Ben Jobe Award The Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding minority men's college basketball head coach in NCAA Division I competition. The award was established in 2010 and is named for head coach Ben Jobe, wh ...

, given annually to the most outstanding minority men's college basketball head coach in NCAA Division I competition. On May 14, 2012, Woods was announced as head coach at Morehead State University, taking over for

Donnie Tyndall Donald Joseph Tyndall (born June 14, 1970) is an American basketball coach currently working as the head coach for Chipola College of the NJCAA. Tyndall played college basketball at Iowa Central Community College and Morehead State Eagles men's ba ...

. On November 22, 2016, Woods was suspended as head coach as result of an investigation into player mistreatment. He was subsequently charged with misdemeanor battery after two players accused him of assaulting them during a game, and a player's father claimed to ESPN that Woods head-butted his son. Assistant coach Preston Spradlin was named interim head coach during the investigation. On December 15, two days after Woods was charged with misdemeanor battery in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

for allegedly assaulting two of his players during a game versus

Evansville Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in S ...

, it was announced that Woods had resigned. Spradlin would continue as interim coach while the school conducted a nationwide search for a replacement. On June 9, 2017, Woods was hired by

Stetson University Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I–4 corridor in Central Florida with the primary undergraduate campus in DeLand. The university was founded in 1883 and was later established in 1887 ...

as an assistant coach for the men's basketball team. He stayed on the Hatters' staff for one season before being named the 12th head coach in Southern University history on April 12, 2018. He replaced Morris Scott who served as interim head coach for the 2017-18 season.

Head coaching record

Personal life

Woods is married and has two children. His son, Martiese Morones, a high school point guard in Kentucky, was signed by TCU for the 2006–07 season. Woods joined the TCU staff shortly afterwards.

References

External links

Sean Woods stats at BigBlueHistory.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Sean 1970 births Living people African-American basketball players African-American basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball players from Indianapolis College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils basketball coaches Morehead State Eagles men's basketball coaches Point guards Southern Jaguars basketball coaches TCU Horned Frogs men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople Cathedral High School (Indianapolis) alumni