SWAC Basketball: Top 10 head coaches of the century (2000-20)

6. Sean Woods – Mississippi Valley State (2008-2012), Southern (2018-2020)

Following a playing career in which he starred at Kentucky in the early 90’s, Woods began his coaching career years later. An assistant for a few different programs, he was serving on staff at TCU when he accepted the Mississippi Valley State job in 2008. Beginning your first head coaching job at a SWAC school can be a recipe for disaster, but Woods has done solid work.

Woods’s win total increased with each season with the Delta Devils, culminating in 2012, when the program won 21 games and the regular-season title. They took care of business in the SWAC Tournament, returning the Delta Devils to the NCAA Tournament. Woods then departed for Morehead State, though his tenure ended unceremoniously after accusations of player mistreatment.

Woods is back in the SWAC and will soon begin with his third season with Southern. His 2020 Jaguars finished in second place in the conference and even without postseason play saw their win total increase by ten. If Woods can avoid what got him in trouble at Morehead State, then he has a chance to do great things at a second SWAC program.