Stories Of Success: Chris Woods
February 08, 2023 | Track & Field, Joel Coleman
State head track and field coach proud to lead his alma mater.
(Throughout Black History Month, Mississippi State is celebrating its current Black student-athletes, coaches and administrators by telling several of their personal stories. Today, HailState.com shines the spotlight on MSU head track and field coach Chris Woods.)
STARKVILLE – It was Chris Woods' freshman year at Mississippi State back about two decades ago and he was just about ready for something different.
Woods, now MSU's head track and field coach, was at the time a middle-distance runner for the Bulldogs. He was getting used to life as both a student and an athlete.
"So, I came to Mississippi State and I absolutely hated it my freshman year…and it was for very silly and immature reasons," Woods recalled. "The 18, 19-year old mind [thinks about how] you're away from home. You're a little homesick. The guy that recruited you isn't quite as nice as a coach as he was as a recruiter."
Woods was questioning his future. But it's funny how life works itself out. By the end of Woods' freshman season, he was making the finals at the Southeastern Conference championship meet. In between qualifying for the finals and participating, he learned he'd earned his highest-ever GPA – including high school and college.
"I was 19 years old, and I think it was the first time I'd had a mature moment," Woods said. "I was like, 'I'm running faster than I've ever ran. My grades are better than they've ever been. I've got to stay.'"
Like that, Woods was on his way to a life that his since been wrapped in Mississippi State Maroon and White.
He became a two-time All-American and four-time All-SEC performer as a Bulldog athlete. Woods is now in his fourth year as MSU's full-time head coach. And all of it was made possible through Woods' perseverance as well as his constant yearning to be the best at what he does.
Woods was just a high schooler at Benjamin E. Mays High in Atlanta when his talent and drive really began raising eyebrows.
"I had a decent high school career," Woods said. "I made a couple of USA teams and I had a national record when I was like 15 or 16. Then the local newspaper was like, 'You're going to be at the next Olympics,'…I was like, 'There's no way.'"
Woods might not have been Olympic bound, but he was certainly on the radar of many colleges.
"I got recruited at a pretty decent level," Woods said. "I was fortunate enough to have [former MSU coach] Steve Dudley, who was the event coach and my recruiting coordinator at the time, reach out to me and offer me a scholarship. At the time, I wasn't coming. My mom is kind of the one that was like, 'That's where you're going.' Because [Dudley] was the only one to come to the house and was like, 'Hey, I'm going to make sure your son gets a degree.' Everybody else was just talking about running fast and winning rings and championships. When you're 16, 17, 18 years old, that's kind of what you want to hear. But what my mom needed to hear was that her son was going to get a degree. That's something that has always stuck with me in my recruiting process. That's something that we continue to make sure that we prioritize here at Mississippi State in the track and field program and amongst all the other sports."
So, Woods came from Georgia to Mississippi for college and, while he got off to a rocky start, finally settled in. He loved it so much so that it wasn't long after he left when he was determined to get back.
After Woods graduated from State in 2008, he immediately went into coaching. Woods went on to win a couple of Division II National Championships as an assistant at Abilene Christian. He'd then serve as the head coach at Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
It was while in Orangeburg Woods made it known that he'd one day return to Starkville.
"While I was [at Claflin], I enjoyed I was the head coach, but I really wanted more," Woods said. "I wanted the opportunity to be in the SEC and coach against the best of the best or the perceived best of the best. I called Dudley up and was like, 'Hey man. I don't know when it's going to be. It might be in 10 years, but in 10 years I'm going to make it really, really, really hard for you not to hire me.' And I worked my tail off and I worked hard, and I think it caught his eye and he [eventually] called me and was like, 'Hey, do you want to come back?' That was in June of '13 I think and I've been here ever since."
About six years later – on June 14, 2019 – Woods officially moved into the head chair after serving as MSU's interim head coach for several months prior. The day he was promoted was obviously a momentous occasion for Woods.
"It's still up there as one of the best days of my life, other than the day you're married or when your children are born or stuff like that," Woods said. "But professionally, it's definitely one of the most important days of my life and one of the happiest days of my life. It was a nerve-racking time because I was the interim for a full year almost leading up to that, and you just never know. You can be confident in the job that you're doing, but at the end of the day, it's not your decision if your name gets called. I was blessed and fortunate enough for [former MSU athletic director John Cohen] to call my name and for him to trust me in this position and I take it personally because this is my alma mater."
And just how personally does Woods take it?
"I can't go into things saying, 'Hey, we're going to just go compete and we're going to do good.' I can't do the rah-rah stuff," Woods explains. "It's, 'Hey, we have to put a plan in place so that we can win a trophy, because baseball did it. So that means we can all do it. Football was No. 1 for [several] weeks straight. That means we can all do it.' I have to believe in my heart and soul that we can win a national championship and we have to go out and coach like it. We have to go out and recruit like it. And so, I take the job to heart because I believe we can be the best in the country. I truly believe that, and I think we have the resources here at Mississippi State. We have the coaching staff here at Mississippi State in order for us to be the best. We have to continue to build upon those things and the resources we have in place."
Put another way, Woods wants his program to keep pushing and keep going forward. That's something he knows all about personally.
All those years ago, Woods kept his foot on the gas even when things were tough. Now, he's living the dream while at the same time helping others realize theirs.
