dr. eric a. wood

DIRECTOR of ATHLETICS/VICE PRESIDENT

@EWOOD_AD

Culture. Class. Competitive Excellence.

Those are the pillars that Dr. Eric A. Wood has embraced and vocalized since stepping foot on the Louisiana Tech University campus.

Wood was formally introduced as Vice President and Director of Athletics by University President Dr. Les Guice during a press conference held in the Chris Richardson Suite of the Joe Aillet Stadium Press Box on Oct. 23, 2020.

The 23-year veteran of collegiate athletics came to Ruston following a five-year stint at UCF, becoming the first Director of Athletics in LA Tech history to also serve as a Vice President while also becoming the first African-American Vice President and the first minority Director of Athletics in the University’s history.

Wood’s energy, enthusiasm and electric personality have hit home with the LA Tech student-athletes, coaches, support staff and fan base during his two years as AD.

And since coming on board during one of the most trying times in collegiate athletics history, his leadership has helped LA Tech gain momentum – both on and off the playing surfaces.

Athletically, that momentum can be seen in the number of championships won.

• Baseball – 2021 C-USA West Division champions and 2022 C-USA Tournament champions

• Softball – 2022 C-USA Regular Season champions

• Women’s Basketball – 2022 C-USA West Division champions

• Men’s Basketball – 2021 C-USA West Division champions

LA Tech is the only Division I school in the country to have won a conference regular season title in baseball, softball, men’s basketball and women’s basketball within the last two years. The Bulldog and Lady Techster Basketball teams also made it to the Conference USA Championship game in 2022, marking just the eighth time in C-USA history a school has had both programs advance to the finals.

Other team highlights during Wood’s tenure include the seventh straight bowl appearance by Bulldog Football, back-to-back NCAA Regional appearances by the Bowling program, Bulldog Basketball’s run to the 2021 NIT Final Four, individual NCAA postseason qualifiers in Track and Field and Golf, and back-to-back NCAA Regional appearances by Bulldog Baseball (including the first ever host of an NCAA Regional in 2021).

LA Tech also had plenty of champions in the classroom with numerous academic records broken.

• 230 student-athletes named to the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll (2021-22)

• 75 student-athletes receiving the C-USA Commissioner’s Academic Medal (2021-22)

• 11 programs tallying a multi-year APR rate of at least 970 (2020-21)

• 8 programs recording a perfect 1,000 single-year APR score (2020-21)

Other impressive academic accomplishments over the last two years have included 24 conference All-Academic Team honorees, 12 CoSIDA Academic All-District selections (record-high nine in 2020-21) and five CoSIDA Academic All-American selections (record-high three in 2020-21).

On the fundraising front this past year, the University totaled $5.6M in dollars received to athletics, the highest since FY17, with the exception of disaster relief efforts. The Louisiana Tech Athletics Club (LTAC) exceeded $1.53 million in commitments in FY22, marking the first time surpassing $1.5 million since the 2018-19 academic year. In addition, the average LTAC gift increased by 20 percent from FY21 to FY22. And for a second straight year, giving among full-time athletic department employees reached 100 percent.

Tech has also seen several seven-figure commitment made by individual donors on capital projects that support the Bulldog and Lady Techster student-athletes. The University opened brand new facilities in J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park, Dr. Billy Bundrick Softball Field, Robert Mack Caruthers Soccer Field, Origin Bank Soccer and Softball Complex, and additional support facilities that totaled in excess of $40 million in new athletics facility construction.

The University has also begun raising funds for the construction of the Sarah and A.L. Williams Champions Plaza as well as the new StudentAthlete Success Center and pair of new Daktronics video scoreboards as part of the $15 million Joe Aillet Stadium north end zone project.

All of these momentum-building moments have led to exponential growth in the brand as well through social media and the official athletics website LATechSports.com. In 2021-22, there was a 17.9 percent increase in followers across all social media platforms with half of the accounts generating at least a 20 percent growth in followers. The newly redesigned website saw its most web traffic ever with record highs in page views (3.06 million), sessions (1.34 million) and users (780,000+).

All of these accomplishments are signs of the three pillars – Culture, Class and Competitive Excellence.

The Bronx, New York, native has also served in a variety of roles outside of LA Tech, having been appointed to the Division I NCAA Football Oversight Committee and to the Division I Council as well as being named Chair of the Football Success Committee.

Prior to making Ruston his new home, Wood spent more than two decades serving within athletics administration. In addition to his time at UCF, he has held full-time positions at the University of Arkansas, the Atlantic Coast Conference, Wake Forest University and the University of New Haven. He also served as a postgraduate intern at the NCAA national office and a graduate assistant at Clemson University early in his career.

At every level of his professional career, Wood has made an impact. His qualifications and accomplishments include:

• Sacred Heart University Board of Trustees

• Head coach hires in football (Sonny Cumbie), men’s basketball (Talvin Hester), softball (2022 C-USA Coach of the Year Josh Taylor), and track and field (Brian Johnson)2020-21 University of Arkansas Outstanding Alumni of the Year-College of Health, Human Performance & Recreation

• 2019 “Next Up” honoree presented by Adidas and College AD for senior level administrators

• Athletics Representative on the UCF Presidents Advisory Staff Council

• 2016 Top 40 Under 40 in the Arkansas Business Journal

• 2009 graduate of the NCAA’s Leadership Institute

• NCAA, NLI, Division I-A Athletics Director’s Association (Now Lead1), USTA committee service

• 1994-1998 NCAA football student-athlete

• 1998 Medal of Merit recipient as student-athlete of the Year

During his tenure at UCF, Wood played a prominent role in the strategic planning process and day-to-day administration of the University’s 16-sport intercollegiate athletics program, assisting with key initiatives that impact overall competitive excellence in the classroom and on the respective playing fields as a member of his executive leadership team.

He represented the department on the President’s Advisory Staff Council and served as sport administrator for the football and men’s basketball programs. Wood had administrative oversight of the Varsity Knights alumni letter-winners organization, UCF Convocation Corporation management and revenue generation, Knights Sports Performance, the sport administrators group, the sports science and sports nutrition departments, compliance, academics and all internal units impacting the competitive success of UCF’s 450 student-athletes.

Wood also assisted with the hiring of UCF football coach Josh Heupel and men’s basketball coach Johnny Dawkins. The Knights football program has won 22 games over the past two seasons, including an undefeated regular season in 2018. The Knights men’s basketball program earned a trip to the 2019 NCAA Tournament, the program’s first since 2005.

During his time in Fayetteville, Wood served as the Associate Athletics Director, Deputy Title IX Coordinator/Diversity Coordinator (2011-16) as well as the Assistant Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Development

(2009-11).

Wood was the Director of Student-Athlete Programs and Compliance at the ACC (2005-09) following a stint as the Assistant Director for Compliance at Wake Forest (2004-05). He began his full-time collegiate athletic administration career as the Assistant AD for Compliance and Student Development at the University of New Haven (2003-04).

He is a 1998 graduate of Sacred Heart University, earning his degree in Psychology. He was a three-year starter at cornerback for the Pioneer football team with one outdoor season as a member of the track and field team.

Wood earned a Medal of Merit, the athletic department’s highest honor, as the Student-Athlete of the Year his senior year at Sacred Heart. He completed his master’s degree in counseling and guidance services at Clemson University in May 2000 and his Doctorate of Education in Sports Management at the University of Arkansas in 2016.

Wood and his wife Celia have four children – Eliana, Nia, Alyssa and Elijah.