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HONOREE JANET WOOD
For Coach Wood, Winning on Court was Just the Beginning
Janet Wood loves winning, which doesn’t exactly set her apart from any other coach who has ever prowled the sidelines, sat on the bench or patrolled the dugout. But not every coach can put their sport into such perspective that they see past the scoreboard to focus on improving the lives of players as Wood did during a 42-year career in education.
“We preached all the time, whatever you do in the classroom is exactly what you’re going to do on the court,” she said. “The emphasis that we put on grades, the classroom, respect for your teachers with ‘Yes, ma’am. No, ma’am. Yes, sir. No, sir.’ We spent as much time on that part as the basketball part.
“Hard work and education — that’s the key. It doesn’t matter how many sports you play or how good you are at them; if you don’t have that educational background, it’s tough these days. It’s tough anytime.”
Wood knows firsthand about having one’s priorities straight. As a poor farm kid from Melbourne, she learned from an early age that life wasn’t going to hand her anything. So, she grabbed a book in one hand and a basketball in the other, determined to set her own trajectory in life.
Janet Wood
Photo by Jason Masters
— JANET WOOD
She was doubly successful in that endeavor. After leading Melbourne to the 1973 state title, the gritty point guard played for Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia before starting her teaching and coaching career in Cotter in 1979. Two years later, she made the jump to Mountain Home where she would eventually coach, teach and serve several administrative roles.
For nearly half of her 42 years in education, she built a decorated career as a basketball coach and spent another 11 as the district’s athletic director. During her time on the bench, she led the Lady Bombers to a state title in 1986 and in 1994 was skipper to a team that set a national record that stands to this day.
“In 1994, there was a highlight; we lost in eight overtimes to Fayetteville,” she said. “At that time, the top 32 schools were in one classification. Fayetteville had the most enrollment in the state, and we were number 32 in enrollment. They beat us in eight overtimes that year, which is still a national record. If you Google ‘overtime state championships national record,’ you would find Fayetteville beating Mountain Home 75-73.”
Many coaches would still be eaten up over losing in such as fashion, but Wood doesn’t necessarily see it that way. How many small-town schools get to say they’ve held a national record for that long, if at all?
“It’s not all about winning a state championship, it’s the relationships that these kids have with each other over the years,” she said. “There’s just no substitute for that.”
By the time the dust settled on her career (she retired in spring 2021), Wood was an acknowledged giant in her profession having been inducted into the Arkansas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor (2009); Southern Arkansas University Hall of Honor (2012) and Arkansas High School Athletic Administrators Association Hall of Honor (2020). She’s also enshrined in the Mountain Home Athletic Hall of Honor three times, once as an individual and twice as the coach of teams.
But ask her what her lifetime record is, and she’s surprisingly nonchalant about it.
“We had some really good years,” she said. “I think 30-2 was our best. The year we won state, I think we were something like 28-7 or 29-7. Someone figured up once that we had an 82 percent winning record at Mountain Home. But I really don’t know what my record was.”
Wood found a kindred spirit in Lou Wood, her husband of 33 years, himself a retired high school coach of some repute. She said of all the accolades she’s received, none have meant more than being inducted into the Mountain Home Education Foundation Hall of Fame.
“I cried,” she said. “This honor is for education, and I would like to think that all the years I coached, education was still the most important thing I did.”
