Entering his 15th season as the Head Tennis Coach for both the men’s and women’s programs at Piedmont is department veteran, PC alum, and local product Shane Wood. As one of the most successful coaches on staff at PC, Wood has 10 conference titles to his name as well as a NCAA National Tournament appearance to go with a bevy of individual student-athlete accolades during his time leading the Green and Gold.
In 2017, the men's tennis team earned a share of the USA South West Division regular season championship after earning their sixth straight double-digit win season. The Lions ended the year 10-9 overall with a 7-1 record in the USA South with their league record marked the best finish since joining the USA South in 2013.
For the women, they finished the 2017 season winning three matches in perfect 9-0 fashion with an overall record of 7-10 and 3-4 in the USA South. Piedmont held a positive record on their home courts beating LaGrange, Wesleyan, and Brooklyn College in front of the home fans.
In his collegiate tennis coaching career, Wood has 356 overall victories to his name having coached on both the men’s and women’s side for a career .538 winning percentage. Exactly 192 of his wins have come coaching the men’s program at Piedmont while 164 more have come on the women’s side of the net with more than 80% of his overall win total occurring during his time in Demorest.
Wood’s 300th career win came during the 2014 season on the final day of the regular season as his men’s and women’s teams both swept visiting Greensboro College at Burgen Tennis Courts. The historic moment on April 6 also served as Senior Recognition Day for one of Wood’s most successful overall groups as well that helped to reestablish the tradition of Piedmont tennis atop the hill overlooking Walker Athletic Complex.
With so much success on the court as the most decorated championship program at PC, perhaps Wood’s most long-lasting effect on Piedmont athletics is his trio of NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship Award winners in Sebastian Stanescu, Patrick Steck, and Trey Martin. With Stanescu claiming the first such honor in 2005 before Steck and Martin followed in back-to-back years with the honor in 2014 and 2015, the trio are still the only such award winners in Piedmont’s athletic history heading into the 2017-18 academic year.
After a wildly successful ten seasons guiding his tennis programs through the Great South Athletic Conference, Wood led his teams into a new era in 2013 competing in the USA South Athletic Conference for the first time as Piedmont transitioned to the league in the 2012-13 academic year. Wood’s teams debuted well with each posting a top-four finish in perhaps one of the toughest Division III tennis conferences around, a league which featured the men’s doubles national runner-up in 2013.
Wood is no stranger to success or to Piedmont as he spent eight successful seasons directing both the men’s and women’s tennis teams at PC from 1999-2007 prior to taking the job at Jacksonville University. Wood surpassed 200 wins as the school’s tennis coach in 2013 and also won an unprecedented ten combined Great South Athletic Conference titles, Piedmont’s league affiliation for the first 12 years of the 2000’s.
Wood re-established the tennis programs at Piedmont after a dormant three year period prior to his arrival at the turn of the century and, upon doing so, was able to record seven straight GSAC men's titles from 2001-2007 while claiming back-to-back women's titles in 2004 and 2005. He was named the Great South Athletic Conference Coach of the Year six straight times on the men's side from 2002-2007 and twice for the women in 2004 and 2005.
Shane Wood’s first season back as the Head Coach of the Piedmont College men’s and women’s tennis programs ended the same way his last season at PC did eight years ago – with a championship. Following a three-year tenure at NCAA Division-I Jacksonville University, Wood returned to the Demorest campus just prior to the 2011 season only to lead his Lions tennis team to the Great South Athletic Conference title while helping the women’s team to an appearance in the championship tournament as well.
In his return campaign on campus, the coach also mentored the GSAC Men’s Player of the Year in addition to a combined nine All-Conference selections, two All-Freshman award winners, and four All-Academic honorees.
One of the all-time highlights of Wood’s storied time as the head coach at PC came in 2004 when the veteran coach led his men's team to the school's first ever national ranking as the Lions finished 23rd in all of NCAA Division-III. He mentored participants in the NCAA men's singles championship in 2004 and 2005 while sending a doubles team to the national tournament in 2005.
Wood’s homecoming to Piedmont came after having taken over the reins of both the men's and women's programs at Jacksonville University in Florida for three years, a Division I member of the Atlantic Sun Conference.
In only his first season on campus at JU, Wood guided the women’s team at Jacksonville to the best season in program history going 20-5 while recording only the second ever NCAA appearance for the women’s side of the JU tennis program. That 2008 women’s squad rattled off 16 straight victories that included an Atlantic Sun Conference tournament championship before falling to the Florida Gators, who ranked sixth nationally, in NCAA Tournament action.
In only three seasons at the helm, Wood produced 11 Atlantic Sun All-Conference performers while also mentoring a trio of All-Freshman honorees. Additionally, one of Wood’s first recruits (Lina Xu) garnered conference Freshman of the Year honors in his debut season with the women’s side of the tennis program.
Though Wood has spent many years on the court as a coach for Piedmont, his first experience as a Lion came as a player in 1993 and 1994 as he donned the green and gold for two seasons. Wood is one of five head coaches on staff at Piedmont that attended the institution themselves either for their undergrad or graduate degree.
As a certified professional with the United States Professional Tennis Association since 2005, Wood has also been a member of the Atlantic-South Regional Advisory Committee for NCAA Division-III men’s tennis. The University of Georgia graduate earned his Bachelor of Arts in History from UGA in 1998 before moving on to complete his Master of Business Administration in Public Administration from Piedmont in 2004.
Shane married the former Jennifer Haygood in 1996, and the two have three children including Payton, Abby, and Graham.
Coach Wood Year-by-Year Overall Tennis Coaching Record (2001-Present)
| Season |
Record |
Pct. |
School Name |
| 2017 |
17-19 |
.472 |
Piedmont |
| 2016 |
20-19 |
.513 |
Piedmont |
| 2015 |
18-19 |
.486 |
Piedmont |
| 2014 |
23-14 |
.622 |
Piedmont |
| 2013 |
21-15 |
.583 |
Piedmont |
| 2012 |
22-15 |
.595 |
Piedmont |
| 2011 |
16-18 |
.471 |
Piedmont |
| 2010 |
19-23 |
.452 |
Jacksonville |
| 2009 |
23-19 |
.548 |
Jacksonville |
| 2008 |
29-17 |
.630 |
Jacksonville |
| 2007 |
12-23 |
.343 |
Piedmont |
| 2006 |
22-17 |
.564 |
Piedmont |
| 2005 |
27-14 |
.659 |
Piedmont |
| 2004 |
27-16 |
.628 |
Piedmont |
| 2003 |
19-22 |
.463 |
Piedmont |
| 2002 |
22-18 |
.550 |
Piedmont |
| 2001 |
19-20 |
.487 |
Piedmont |
| Totals |
356-306 |
.538 |
2 Schools |
Coach Wood Overall Tennis Coaching Record by School (2001-Present)
| School Name |
Seasons |
Record |
Winning Pct. |
| Piedmont College (2001-2007, 2011-Present) |
14 |
285-249 |
.538 |
| Jacksonville University (2008-2010) |
3 |
71-59 |
.546 |
Coach Wood Year-by-Year Men's Tennis Coaching Record (2001-Present)
| Season |
Record |
Pct. |
School Name |
| 2017 |
10-9 |
.526 |
Piedmont |
| 2016 |
11-8 |
.579 |
Piedmont |
| 2015 |
10-8 |
.556 |
Piedmont |
| 2014 |
11-7 |
.611 |
Piedmont |
| 2013 |
12-6 |
.667 |
Piedmont |
| 2012 |
12-6 |
.667 |
Piedmont |
| 2011 |
11-6 |
.647 |
Piedmont |
| 2010 |
9-12 |
.429 |
Jacksonville |
| 2009 |
12-8 |
.600 |
Jacksonville |
| 2008 |
9-12 |
.429 |
Jacksonville |
| 2007 |
8-10 |
.444 |
Piedmont |
| 2006 |
11-7 |
.611 |
Piedmont |
| 2005 |
15-6 |
.714 |
Piedmont |
| 2004 |
12-6 |
.667 |
Piedmont |
| 2003 |
13-9 |
.591 |
Piedmont |
| 2002 |
16-7 |
.696 |
Piedmont |
| 2001 |
10-9 |
.526 |
Piedmont |
| Totals |
192-136 |
.585 |
2 Schools |
Coach Wood Men's Tennis Coaching Record by School (2001-Present)
| School Name |
Seasons |
Record |
Winning Pct. |
| Piedmont College (2001-2007, 2011-Present) |
14 |
162-104 |
.609 |
| Jacksonville University (2008-2010) |
3 |
30-32 |
.484 |
Coach Wood Year-by-Year Women's Tennis Coaching Record (2001-Present)
| Season |
Record |
Pct. |
School Name |
| 2017 |
7-10 |
.412 |
Piedmont |
| 2016 |
9-11 |
.450 |
Piedmont |
| 2015 |
8-11 |
.421 |
Piedmont |
| 2014 |
12-7 |
.632 |
Piedmont |
| 2013 |
9-9 |
.500 |
Piedmont |
| 2012 |
10-9 |
.526 |
Piedmont |
| 2011 |
5-12 |
.294 |
Piedmont |
| 2010 |
10-11 |
.476 |
Jacksonville |
| 2009 |
11-11 |
.500 |
Jacksonville |
| 2008 |
20-5 |
.800 |
Jacksonville |
| 2007 |
4-13 |
.235 |
Piedmont |
| 2006 |
11-10 |
.524 |
Piedmont |
| 2005 |
12-8 |
.600 |
Piedmont |
| 2004 |
15-10 |
.600 |
Piedmont |
| 2003 |
6-13 |
.316 |
Piedmont |
| 2002 |
6-11 |
.353 |
Piedmont |
| 2001 |
9-11 |
.450 |
Piedmont |
| Totals |
164-172 |
.488 |
2 Schools |
Coach Wood Women's Tennis Coaching Record by School (2001-Present)
| School Name |
Seasons |
Record |
Winning Pct. |
| Piedmont College (2001-2007, 2011-Present) |
14 |
123-145 |
.459 |
| Jacksonville University (2008-2010) |
3 |
41-27 |
.603 |
