When Steve Wood stepped aside as head coach of the Aledo Bearcats after the 2018 football season to become Aledo ISD athletic director, I wondered if he’d indeed had his fill of being on the sidelines.
After all, he’d had one of the best short-term runs as a head coach that a person could imagine. In five seasons between 2014-18 he accumulated a mind-boggling 75-4 record with three state championships (2014, 16, 18), a state runner-up finish (2017) in which the Bearcats lost by a single point, and a state semifinals finish (2015).
While it probably takes more than five years to qualify as a legend, there’s no doubt in my mind that had he continued as a head coach he’d be at that status today. Instead, he switched positions with Tim Buchanan - an unquestioned high school coaching legend - in 2019, as Buc returned as head coach and Wood became athletic director.
Both Buck and Wood retired after the 2022 season and after Aledo had won three more state titles. Robby Jones took over and immediately won a championship in 2023 to bring the total to a state-record dozen.
But just as Buck couldn’t stay away from the sidelines, we now find out that Wood, just as well, had to scratch that itch again. He’s the new head coach of Southwest Christian School in Fort Worth.
“Some people think I’m crazy. I did miss it,” Wood said. “We live on a golf course, we have a place in Colorado, a new grandbaby, I thought I was done.”
He’s not crazy. The folks at SCS would be the crazy ones if they didn’t bring him onboard when the opportunity presented itself.
It was clear Wood, 69, missed being a part of football every day when he took a job as an assistant at Mineral Wells this past season. He helped the Rams reach the Class 4A Division II playoffs.
“I realized at Mineral Wells how much I missed coaching,” Wood said. “And there’s no rules about retirement that say you can’t come back to something if you still love it, and I do.”
Then came a call from SCS. A couple of board members/parents with ties to the football program realized that if Wood was back in the game, they wanted him to be on their side.
“They told me what their goal is and I thought, ‘You know what, if somebody wants you and thinks you can do this for them, that’s quite an honor,’” Wood said. “So, here I am.
“It’s a beautiful campus, also, right here overlooking the lake. And the faith-based education, I like that.”
Wood said he is facing a different challenge than at Aledo. However, I can’t imagine a bigger challenge than taking over for Buchanan one season after the Bearcats went 16-0, won state for a fourth time in five years, and became the only team at any level to score more than 1,000 points in a season in 2013.
What did Wood do? He led them to the 2014 state championship, the first step to establishing himself as greatness.
“I was certainly having fun. There was some pressure, but I was having so much fun,” Wood said.
As for SCS, the school, founded in 1969, has never come close to the success Aledo has enjoyed. But then, no one has, actually.
The best season in recent memory for the Eagles was 10-3 in 2021 and they were 6-5 in this season just ended.
“It’s another challenge, and that’s what life’s about,” Wood said.
Granted, it is a monumental task to try and bring SCS to the level among private school football that Aledo has had in the public school realm. But if anyone’s gonna try, there is no better choice than Wood.
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