Football

Wood selected to participate in 2009 NCAA Expert Coaches Football Academy

INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA has invited 19 coaches to its 2009 NCAA Expert Coaches Football Academy from June 18-20 in Orlando, Fla., and Salisbury University head football coach Sherman Wood has been selected to participate.

Coach Wood is entering his 11th season as head coach of the Salisbury University football program. Wood is the all-time winningest coach in program history with a combined record of 69-35 through 10 seasons. Coach Wood led the Sea Gulls to their seventh straight winning season in '08 as the Sea Gulls won the ECAC Southwest Bowl Championship.

In 10 years at his Alma Mater, Coach Wood has won back-to-back Atlantic Central Football Conference championships (2004, ‘05), led the Sea Gulls to three NCAA tournament berths (2002, '04, '07), the ECAC Southeast Bowl Championship (2005), the ECAC South Atlantic Bowl Championship (2006) and the ECAC Southwest Bowl Championship (2008).

The NCAA Football Academy was created in an effort to assist coaches with career advancement, networking and exposure opportunities due to the low number of minority head football coaches at NCAA colleges and universities.

The program offers valuable sessions on Communications-media, booster relations, interviewing skills, and building a portfolio; Fiscal Responsibilities-fundraising, budgeting and development; Building a Successful Program-managing coaching staffs, building a portfolio (game strategy), maintaining relationships with university/college presidents, athletic directors, alumni, student-athletes, faculty and members of the community; Compliance Considerations-gambling issues, NCAA rules and regulations/infractions, agents, choices/consequences and integrity; Academic Issues - academic support, academic fraud, retention, academic success and NCAA rules and regulations.

Of the current 119 Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) head football coaches, seven are African-American, one is a Pacific Islander, and one is Latino. Out of a total of 582 football programs in Division I, II and III, only 3.9 percent are coaches of color, excluding the historically black coaches and universities.

The coaches selected for the 2009 Expert Coaches Academy are:

• Olabaniji Abanishe, head football coach, Lincoln University (PA)
• Robert Anae, offensive coordinator, Brigham Young University
• Kurt Barber, defensive coordinator, Kentucky State University
• Corey Batoon, assistant head coach/defensive coordinator, Northern Arizona University
• Chennis Berry, offensive coordinator/o-line coach, North Carolina A&T University
• Nigel Burton, defensive coordinator, University of Nevada
• Stephon Healey, associate head coach, Bridgewater College
• Eric Jackson, defensive backs coach, Princeton University
• Shannon Jackson, defensive coordinator, Indiana State University
• James Joe, assistant head football coach, Miles College
• Michael Morand, co-offensive coordinator, North Carolina A&T University
• Herbert Parham, assistant head coach/defensive coordinator, Morgan State University
• Cedric Pearl, offensive coordinator, Alabama A&M University
• Darrell Perkins, defensive backs/recruiting coordinator, University of Louisiana at Monroe
• Frederick Reed, defensive coordinator, University of Buffalo
• Payam Saadat, co-defensive coordinator, United States Military Academy
• Chris Vaughn, recruiting coordinator/defensive assistant, University of Mississippi
• Alexander Wood, defensive coordinator, Wayne State University
• Sherman Wood, head football coach, Salisbury University

In addition to the Expert Coaches Academy, the NCAA Diversity and Inclusion group also directs the Future Coaches Academy for student-athletes, the Football Coaches Academy (less than eight years of experience) and the top tier most recently added program--the Champions Forum, which links participants from past Expert Coaches Academies with NCAA athletics directors who have hiring power and networks with other athletics directors. Since the NCAA created its Coaching Academies in 2004, five of the eight minority football coaches who have been hired in head coaching positions at NCAA colleges and universities participated in the NCAA coaching academy programs.

Also see:

• NCAA release on the  2009 NCAA Expert Coaches Football Academy
• NCAA Football Coaches Academy