Football

Coach Sherman Wood completed his tenth season as the head coach of the Salisbury University football program during the 2008-09 school year. Coach 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).  

In '08, SU finished the season with a record of 9-2 and recieved an invite to the ECAC Southwest Bowl Championship vs. Moravian College. The Sea Gulls won the contest 21-17. The Sea Gulls held the top rushing attack in the nation (379.9 yards per game) in all divisions. Salisbury placed 15 players on the ACFC All-Conference team, and 32 student-athletes on ACFC All-Academic Team. Senior defensive end Jarrell Chandler was named an All-American by three different publications.

Salisbury won its first eight games of the '07 season en route to an overall record of 9-2. SU lost to Muhlenberg College in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament 31-21. The senior class finished their four-year career with a combined 33-11 record. SU placed 13 players on the All-ACFC teams, 37 student-athletes earned All-ACFC Academic honors. Junior defensive end Jarrell Chandler was named a D3football.com All-America second team member.

The Sea Gulls shocked the Division III football nation as the maroon and gold knocked off the No. 15 ranked Washington & Jefferson Presidents 32-14 before a crowd of 1,800 fans on the road to begin the 2006 season. Salisbury had to travel to Doylestown, PA, to face Delaware Valley in the ECAC South Atlantic Bowl Championship where the Sea Gulls gutted out a 15-9 victory. The SU senior class finished their four-year career with a combined 31-11 record. SU placed 10 players on the All-ACFC team, 40 student-athletes earned All-ACFC Academic honors and senior defensive back Byron Westbrook became the fourth All-American to be named under the leadership of Coach Wood and the 12th overall for the program.

In 2005, Coach Wood became the all-time winningest coach in program history as he surpassed legendary SU coach and his mentor Mike McGlinchey with win No. 45. Coach Wood earned that win in the first-ever ECAC Bowl championship for the Sea Gulls as Salisbury defeated Franklin & Marshall 27-23 at home in the Southeast Bowl. In the past five seasons the Sea Gulls have posted winning streaks of 10, nine and seven games.

In 2004, the Sea Gulls finished the regular season undefeated, for only the third time in program history, and was ranked No. 5 in the nation, the highest SU had ever been ranked. The Sea Gulls placed eight players on the All-ACFC first team and were recognized with the ACFC Offensive, Defensive and Special Team Players of the Year along with the Coach of the Year award.

In 2002, Wood guided Salisbury to its most successful campaign in 16 years (9-2 record), which included a nine-game winning streak. The Gulls earned the program's first NCAA playoff appearance since 1986 and placed 15 players on the all-conference teams.

The Gulls have had six 1,000-yard rushers in Wood's 10 seasons as head coach and finished No. 1 in the nation in rushing average per game (379.9) in '08. SU finished fourth in the nation in rushing offense in 2002 and 2005 and sixth in 2004. In 2003, Salisbury finished fifth in the nation in total defense and seventh in rushing defense.

Under Wood's leadership, Salisbury has placed 51 players on the All-ACFC first team since 1999 and has garnered 10 ACFC Player or Coach of the Year awards. For three straight seasons a Sea Gull won the ACFC Rookie of the Year (2000-02). The Sea Gulls have produced 119 all-conference performers in the Coach Wood era.

A 1984 graduate of Salisbury University and a four-year letterman on the Sea Gull football team, Wood (81-71-1 overall in 15 years) returned to his Alma Mater in 1999 as the sixth head coach in program history. Prior to SU he spent six years in Division II as the head coach at Bowie State (MD) University.

Wood played defensive back for the Sea Gulls from 1980-83 and finished with seven career interceptions, including two returned for touchdowns. He was a starter and team captain on the 1983 team that earned Salisbury's first-ever NCAA tournament berth and advanced to the national semifinals. Wood earned all-state defensive back honors by The Baltimore Sun and recognition as a Street & Smith All-American during his career.

Wood began his collegiate coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Salisbury under McGlinchey in 1984 and became a graduate assistant coach for the Sea Gulls in 1985. He moved to Bowie State as a graduate assistant coach in 1986, coaching the defensive backs and special teams, while he earned his master's degree.

He became a full-time assistant coach with the Bulldogs in 1988, assuming the duties of assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. He remained at Bowie State as an assistant coach until 1992, when he became the assistant head football coach at Virginia Union. A year later, Wood returned to Bowie State as head coach where he inherited a team that finished 1-10 in 1992. He compiled a 21-37-1 record in six seasons at Bowie State. The team's 6-3 record in 1998 was its best in 10 years.

Originally from Norfolk, VA, Wood is a member of the American Football Coaches Association and serves on its All-America Selection Committee, the Rules Committees and the Summer Manual Committee. In 2006, Wood was honored with the Friend of Education Award presented at the Wicomico County Teacher of the Year Banquet.

Wood is a speaker at numerous sports clinics and involves himself with a variety of local organizations. These groups include: the Special Olympics, the Wicomico Youth Mentor Program and the Salisbury Middle School Gentlemen's Club among others. He also serves on these community service committees; Horizons Program of the Salisbury School, Kids of Honor and the Jr. Golf of Sunrise Rotary. Wood and his wife Tonya have one daughter, Sherece.

Coach Wood's Record at SU