Woodward Moves Up, Plans To Do the Same With His Team
ORONO, Maine – Most coaches dream of one day becoming a head coach and continuously work toward that goal. Talking to new Maine head coach Ted Woodward, you might get the impression that he’s not exactly fulfilling a lifelong dream because he was already there.
“I always think it’s more about the situation than the actual position,” Woodward says. “I love the University of Maine, I’m thrilled to be here – obviously having the chance to be a head coach is great. But I’ve loved being an assistant where I’ve been, and I’ve been fortunate to be with good programs with good people, and to me that’s most important.”
After 18 years as a Division I assistant, Woodward is now a head coach, but his career path would seem to show his comment to not just be words. One would figure that starting out as an assistant at Connecticut under legendary head coach Jim Calhoun would put him on the fast track to a head coaching job, but Woodward went another 15 years as one of the nation’s better assistant coaches before finally getting the head coaching job at Maine in August after John Giannini left to take the head coaching job at LaSalle. He is not only accomplished, but well-respected: he was recently recognized by his peers in surveys conducted by rivals100hoops.com and TheInsidersHoops.com (now ScoutHoops.com) as one of the top assistant coaches in the country.
The experience at Connecticut set it all in motion.
“Obviously, when you get an opportunity to start with somebody like him, that’s where you start building your whole coaching foundation upon,” he says of working for Calhoun.
But it’s all about the situation more than the job, and Woodward can’t say enough good things about each and draw positives from them. His next stop was Harvard, where he spent two seasons, before going to Central Connecticut State, where he was Mark Adams’ top assistant for five seasons. The former was an important growing experience for him in his first position where he was involved in recruiting.
“Harvard is a special place,” he reflects. “The good thing about Harvard is that it allowed me to get to know people on a national level – you’re not just recruiting New England, or the east region, you’re recruiting all over the country and all over the world.”
At Maine under Giannini, the payoff really showed. The school is certainly not known for men’s basketball – men’s hockey is a national power, football is annually a contender for the Division I-AA playoffs, and baseball is normally an America East title contender. As if that’s not enough, they also have to contend with the consistent success of the women’s basketball team. Naturally, they don’t mind the other teams’ success, but the relative lower visibility of the sport at the school is one more obstacle in recruiting. The Black Bears became a consistent contender in America East under Giannini, doing especially well with high-major transfers such as Nate Fox, Andy Bedard, Julian Dunkley, Carvell Ammons and current senior and South Portland, Maine native Chris Markwood among others. While some coaching staffs are known for emphasizing junior college players or taking transfers, Maine didn’t just go one route in assembling talent.
“I think we’ve really tried to explore every area you can for us to get good players,” Woodward says. “We’ve tried to not settle on kids. We’ve really tried to be patient and make sure that we have the best available talent we can have. As a result, we end up having to go lots of different directions to get that, but it’s been fine for us.”
A look at this year’s team shows this diversity in player backgrounds. The roster features two four-year college transfers, two junior college transfers, two who played in prep school, and three international players. (One player fits two categories – senior Freddy Petkus, a native of Lithuania who came to Maine via New Hampton Prep.)
Inherits a Contender
The team Woodward inherits is one that projects to be the top contender to two-time defending America East champion Vermont, whom the Black Bears lost to in the title game last March. They return four starters and all but three players from last season’s team, which finished fourth in America East in the regular season and was near the top in the conference in many key statistical categories. The lineup has a good balance in the backcourt and up front and they are solid at both ends of the floor.
The backcourt is where the biggest question mark is, as the Black Bears will greatly miss departed point guard Eric Dobson. A two-year starter and second team All-America East selection last year, Dobson led the conference in assists and really stepped up in the quarterfinals and semifinals.
“Eric was a very vocal type of leader, a guy that would put the team on his back and carry them in certain situations,” Woodward says.
The Black Bears have three candidates for the position, with the incumbents looking like senior Chris Markwood and junior Ernest Turner, a transfer from UNLV. Neither is a pure point guard, as both are known for something else besides running a team (Markwood for his defense and Turner for his prolific scoring), but this is nothing new for the program.
“Historically, we haven’t been a program that’s had a pure point guard,” Woodward says, noting that they have had players like Eric Greene at the point, while Andy Bedard was not a pure point guard and Dobson wasn’t one originally as well. “It hasn’t been something that’s been a negative for us, it’s been a positive shifting some other guys to that position. I don’t know if they’re totally pure at that position, but they can certainly be very effective playing that position.”
Junior Kevin Reed, another second team All-America East selection last year, returns at shooting guard and may be primed for a big year. He plays bigger than his size (he tied for second in the conference in rebounding last season despite standing just 6’2″), is solidly built and looks to have continued to improve his jump shot, as he looked impressive shooting it at practice. Jermaine Jackson, who projected to be a key offensive player last season before a torn ACL injury early in the season, returns and gives the Black Bears a quick scorer on the wing as well.
The frontcourt has size and depth, led by second team All-America East center Mark Flavin. Flavin really developed last year when he got his first significant playing time and will be flanked by three seniors, David Dubois and co-captains Joe Campbell and Petkus. Campbell plays bigger than his size, while Petkus will see time at both wing positions and is a sniper from long range. Sophomore Olli Ahvenniemi, a 6’10” native of Finland, has the potential to be a star as well.
The Black Bears led the conference in field goal percentage and field goal percentage defense, while posting the second-best rebounding margin. With only Boston University and Vermont allowing fewer points per game, defense doesn’t figure to be a major concern.
When a team returns most of its players and has a coaching change, how the coaching change affects the team is always a big question. Many times, if the new coach is from inside the program, the transition is easier, and Woodward certainly thinks that will be true to at least some degree.
“Certainly, for me, I know them; I know what they can do, I know their strengths and weaknesses, what buttons to push for them to get them to play as hard as they can to reach their potential,” Woodward says.
The team will surely have a similar philosophy given Woodward’s place in the program the last eight years, but not surprisingly there will be a few different things.
“We certainly spent a lot of time together putting different things together in this program that we’ve done,” he says. “At the same time, I think every coach has to coach to their own personality and their own philosophy. I certainly have some things, based on my own background – just little different things – that I want to try on my own.”
Besides their talent and experience, Woodward likes this team’s intangibles, saying they are not resting on their laurels after last season. He can see that they have several motivating factors this season as they vie for the top spot in the conference. He says that they have talked about last year’s championship game loss, but that hasn’t been their only motivating factor.
“We were in the America East championship game last year, but at the same time we finished fourth and I have a lot of respect for the three teams that were ahead of us,” Woodward says. “We’re anxious to take the next step. They have the desire to play a home game for the conference championship instead of always having to play one of those games on the road.”
The Black Bears will be challenged in non-conference play, especially with most of their time spent on the road. Six of their non-conference games will be on the road, starting with Boston College in the opener and later with games at Rhode Island and Providence. (They also have an early conference road game at UMBC mixed in.)
“When you can go through a stretch like we’re going to go through for our first two months, if you can come out feeling good about your basketball team and you’re playing well, it bodes very well,” Woodward says of the schedule.
The schedule should prepare them for the challenges of America East, which shapes up to be improved this season overall. Many teams project to be better, and Woodward feels it will be a strong mid-major conference once again this season. He has a team with good experience and talent, and they have the intangibles to make the program’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament.
“Having the experience with them to get (to the conference championship), which for this group is the second time in three years, is a very big motivating factor,” Woodward says. “At the same time, they don’t have a false sense of where they are. They know what they need to improve upon to try to get to what they believe is the next level. I think that combination is a very positive one for our basketball team.”
