is an award-winning educator, multi-sport coach, and mentor whose four-decade career has impacted thousands of young people across South Carolina. Known for his grit, authenticity, and deep belief in the transformative power of sports, Woods has coached more than 40 consecutive seasons of high school football, along with cross country, basketball, track, and golf along the way. His influence extends far beyond the field—his students and players frequently credit him for changing the trajectory of their lives.

Born with Appalachian roots and raised in a family where hard work, faith, and resilience were the currency that kept people going, Woods learned early what it meant to overcome adversity. Those same themes—faith under pressure, humility, redemption, the long road back—run through his writing just as they run through his life.

Woods earned his Bachelor of Science from East Tennessee State University, a Master’s degree from Cambridge College, and an Ed.D. from Nova Southeastern University, grounding his coaching philosophy in both experience and research. But his greatest classroom has always been the locker room, the sideline, and the long bus rides home after hard-fought battles—places where young men and women learn character, accountability, perseverance, and hope.

Yet The Big Comeback began not in victory, but in heartbreak.

Later in his career, Woods endured a painful, controversial firing—a blow that shook his identity, his confidence, and his purpose. Suddenly uprooted from the game he loved, he found himself facing the same challenges he had helped countless players overcome: shame, doubt, and the question of whether he still mattered.

The answer came from an unexpected place.