Celebrating 50 years of Division III Athletics -- Athletic Director and Head Women's Soccer Coach Nicolle Wood '95

Jose Rodriguez '24, Staff Writer | Media & Communications

The Division III 50th anniversary campaign will mark significant moments in the division's past. It will also celebrate both current and former student-athletes and recognize the relationship the division shares with Special Olympics.  

Division III started Aug. 6, 1973, with 240 member schools and conferences. On Nov. 10, 1973, Ashland became the first Division III national champion by winning the inaugural men's cross country championship hosted by Wheaton (Illinois).

Salem State continues its celebration of D3 50 with a featured spotlight on current athletic director and women's head soccer coach Nicolle Wood '95.  

How did being a Division III athlete help prepare you for your post-playing career?

There are so many things you learn to navigate as a student-athlete that help you in life after college - time management, discipline, communication, working under pressure without losing composure. I would not have been ready as early as I was in my career if not for the development in all of those life skills during my time playing.

When did you decide you wanted to become a college coach?

My first step was to decide if I wanted to coach at any level, which happened my junior year at SSU. After a game on a long bus ride home, my coach Stephen Sherrif, just kind casually walked by my seat and tapped my shoulder and told me I'd be a great coach someday. That was it, just a simple statement from someone who I looked up to so much as a role model and leader. If Coach Sherriff thought I could do it, that was enough for me to believe I could. After his retirement, my red-shirt year, the program took a bit of a downturn and my senior year we really struggled to live up to the standard our program had always been known for. When I graduated I decided I would return some day to try to restore that culture, and a few years later I was an assistant coach.

Why did you choose Salem State, and what about its athletics programs drew your interest?  

Salem State was actually one of the only D3s I looked at, and was really a back up school for me. At the time I had family who lived in the area that we visited a lot, so I knew how beautiful it was around Salem. I also wanted to study either marine biology or athletic training and SSU had both. Looking back now, if I had ended up at my "dream school" back then I would have never built the career and life I gained as a Viking.

What were some of the positive aspects of being a DIII athlete?

I think a lot of the time people focus on DIII being all about participation and believe that without athletic scholarships we don't really care about competing. I actually think it's the opposite. The dedication and commitment to all of the work that DIII student-athletes have to put in to be successful really helps personal development. You have to do all of the lifting, training, studying, and performing on game day that DI athletes do. The difference is we do it without constant supervision or direction. To be successful at this level you have to go all in without any guarantee on outcomes. That type of investment in chasing goals is one that really prepares you to compete in life.

Did you ever envision as a student that you would one day be coaching at Salem State and being an athletic director?

As I shared earlier, I didn't really think about coaching until the end of my career. I think the journey to being the athletic director was similar. I had been the director of sports, health and fitness at the JCC in Marblehead for almost 10 years, and then the director of programs at High Performance Sports for five years after that, so the skillset to lead in the field of athletics was something I had worked on. When I first started at SSU I think I mainly envisioned the coaching side of my role. Thanks to my mentor Tim Shea I was able to quickly see the importance of athletics administration and the opportunity that existed to really impact student-athletes in a meaningful way. Once I knew I wanted to be an AD, there was really not any other place I could picture taking on that title at.

What advice would you give athletes who aspire to become head coaches as well as an athletic director? 

I think mentors are a really undervalued part of any career, especially one in athletics. I still learn something every day from one of the coaches or administrators I work with or speak to. Having someone who can share their experience and leadership development is really important. I also would encourage them to start by getting some experience at a high school or club level, even if it's just as an assistant coach. There is a schedule and grind that college athletics requires, and learning to adjust and manage your time and energy is an essential skill to avoid burnout. Lastly, spend time on developing your own value system and being able to articulate what that is and what it looks like in terms of daily standards and conduct. You have to be able to describe your philosophy to attract a team of student-athletes or coaches to want to really be part of what you are trying to build and lead.

Who do you think influenced your leadership style most? 

As I've said, mentors are really important to this career. I've learned so much from people like Coach Sherrif, former AD John Galaris, Tim Shea, Nate Bryant - all have had an impact on me as a Viking. I've also been so fortunate to have mentors in the game in some really strong female coaches like Nancy Feldman (Boston University) and Sue Hendee (Wilmington High). For me though, in terms of leadership style, the person who had the greatest influence on me was my own dad. Aside from volunteering to help our teams growing up, he was not a coach who spent much time around athletics growing up. What he did teach us was about managing emotions, the value of gratitude, how to treat people, and how to really see and seize opportunities to make things better for the people who count on us.

He taught me so much - including how much you can tell about a person by whether or not they put their shopping cart away - that I still use with my players and our student-athletes. I think the most important lesson he taught was how to breathe and practice the pause when confronted or challenged. That is a skill I practice and try to get better at every day. I think the most important thing was also how he taught, which was simply by leading by example in how he lived his everyday life. I cannot express how grateful I am to have had that type of role model to learn from for most of my life.