Positive Influence Coaching Basketball Has Given Dave Wood Plenty Of Time To Spend With His Daughters

Dave Wood believes he’s in an ideal situation.

He gets paid to coach his daughter in basketball.

“That’s special to me,” the new Riverside girls varsity coach said. “To get involved in something they like. I probably had an influence on them liking basketball.”

Yeah, probably.

Wood was quite a player in his day.

As a senior at Rogers in 1971, he scored a City League record 46 points in one game.

He went on to play two years at Washington State University before transferring to play at Western Washington University in Bellingham.

Yet with all his basketball experience, the 46-year-old Wood says it’s a miracle he landed a head coaching job.

He’s not a teacher, like most coaches. He’s a roofing contractor and doesn’t have a college degree.

Wood said his daughter Hayley, a junior on the team, encouraged him to apply for the position when it came open last spring. He replaced Chris Wren after serving as Wren’s assistant.

There’s no doubt Rams athletic director Marty Friedman is pleased with the hire.

“He’s doing well,” Friedman said. “He’s well organized and knows the game. He has a great rapport with the girls and gets a lot of work out of them. He’s just a great guy, an excellent coach and a role model.”

But Wood admits he was no role model in college.

He said too much partying and the wrong attitude in basketball kept him from having the kind of college career he was capable of. He said he also regrets not focusing more on his education.

Yet Wood’s priorities seem to be straight now. He and his wife Kate have six children. Hayley, the second-oldest, says the family has always been close.

“That’s why I got into coaching,” Wood said. “I liked basketball and they (his daughters) had a little interest in it. It was an excuse to spend a little time with them.”

And if he can make a difference in other athletes’ lives, then all the better.

He got started coaching at St. Aloysius School, where he stayed a year. It was eight years ago he began at Riverside, as an AAU coach for his daughters and the boys assistant coach. He then became the seventh grade girls coach the next season. He coached his oldest daughter Abbey in seventh grade and switched to eighth grade coach when she moved up.

During Hayley’s eighth grade season, Wood did double duty. He coached Hayley and also served as the junior varsity girls coach. That way he got to work some with Abbey, too, who made varsity as a freshman.

Abbey graduated this past spring and is a freshman at Eastern. She’s a heptathlete for the Eagles track team.

Hayley said she doesn’t mind having her dad as her coach.

“It’s fun,” she said. “It’s different than having just a regular person because you go home with them.”

She said a highlight came in March at the State 2A tournament in Tacoma when she played with Abbey and their dad was on the bench.

Wood agrees.

“The opportunity to coach both of them has been a blessing,” he said. “I wouldn’t coach without them being involved.”

So does that mean he’ll hang up his whistle once Hayley graduates?

He’s not sure.

“With six kids you can’t spread yourself too thin,” Wood said. “We’ll see if (Riverside will) have me. It depends if I think I can make a difference, not only in teaching the game but as a good example for these young gals.”

He said he’s doing his best to be a positive influence.

“In college, basketball was kind of like my God,” Wood said. “That’s the wrong priority. You have got to keep the right balance.”