Lacy Wood was officially named Ball State’s head coach on Monday afternoon, capping a lengthy search process for the program and marking the inaugural head coaching role for the veteran coach. Speaking exclusively to JWOS shortly after her hiring was announced, Wood was upbeat and eager to get to work in her new role as a Cardinal.
“This team was on a path to do really good things even before the [2020] season ended,” Wood said. “And now I’m back in the Midwest, I’m four hours from my home, and it’s always great to be a little closer to family. When I was playing, I always had family and friends in the stands at home games, so it’s fun to know that I’m going to be able to get back to that, too.”
A popular name in coaching circles this summer, Wood emerged from a crowded group of candidates as Ball State’s choice for their new leader. In a press release on Monday, Cardinals athletic director Beth Goetz noted Wood’s “competitive fire, knowledge of the game, and strong work ethic” as key qualities. For Wood’s part, she also saw a number of positives in her new department.
“The university itself is very strong on academics, and that’s something that is key in the MAC,” she noted. “I wanted to be in a place where I felt like I could go in and be successful, and Ball State definitely has a history of being a really strong softball program… this team is primed to do some really big things, and that’s a really exciting thing to look at.”
It has been quite the coaching journey for Wood in the years leading up to her newest achievement of being a Division I head coach. After graduating from Louisville in 2006 – following a playing career that included being named the first All-American in program history – Wood coached high school softball and worked outside of the game for several years. A conversation in December of 2011, though, would change her career trajectory for good.
“I was working other jobs to make ends meet while I coached high school softball, and I was struggling because all I wanted to do was get out on the softball field in the afternoon,” Wood recalled. “I had a conversation with Carol Bruggeman, who was still coaching at Louisville at the time, and I told her that I was a point where I was either going to quit coaching and wanted to invest in my career, or I was going to go all-in and get into college coaching. It was an odd time of year, in December, but [Bruggeman] told me that Louisville had a volunteer position open and I just took the leap.”
During Wood’s return to her alma mater that same season, the Cardinals set a program record with 55 wins and won both the Big East regular-season and tournament championships. While serving in a volunteer capacity on the coaching staff, the thought was cemented in Wood’s mind that she had wanted to remain in college coaching from that point forward.
“It was definitely [the joy of coaching in college],” Wood said. “That’s your whole world, and it’s okay for it to be your whole world. And when you’re able to do that with something that is your passion, it’s okay to wake up in the morning and think about it, and to go to bed thinking about it… I was lucky, too, to be in that environment, with some incredible coaches that year and to be surrounded by some amazing people.”
A three-year stint on staff at Eastern Kentucky, where she worked with different facets of the team and as the primary pitching coach, was the first foray into full-time collegiate coaching for Wood. Later, during the 2015 offseason, she joined the staff at Harvard, and the story of how she got to the Ivy League was certainly a unique one; it included a connection between a longtime mentor and her new boss, as well as a trip to a Colorado coffee shop.
“I had submitted my application [for the Harvard assistant’s position]and didn’t think much about it,” Wood mused. “It was a position that was open, so I put my resume out there and didn’t hear anything back. Then I was actually on the recruiting trail in Colorado, and got a phone call from Carol Bruggeman, and she asked how interested I was in the Harvard job… [Bruggeman] was a graduate assistant at Michigan when [Harvard head coach] Jenny Allard was at Michigan. And as I’m having this conversation with Brug, Jenny walks in front of me, right there in Colorado. So I got off the phone with Brug, and Jenny and I wound up going to a Starbucks in Colorado for a pseudo-interview, and then I was on campus for a real one three or four weeks later and the rest is history.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down softball and sports in general in mid-March of this year, the Ivy League were the first Division I conference to cancel competition due to safety concerns. Tasked with helping shepherd a group of student-athletes through an unprecedented time, Wood carries a unique perspective on some potential positives of coaching in the time of COVID.
“It was definitely a unique experience,” Wood said. “We were the first ones to send our students home, and what we didn’t know initially was what that meant for athletics. So that whole week, we went from planning to get on a plane next week for our spring break trip to meeting with our student-athletes in Harvard Square not knowing if we were going to have a season. By the time the Ivy League officially cancelled, I think we all actually thought we were going to be the only [conference]that didn’t play the season, then literally 24 hours later, everything shut down.
“Once they were home, in trying to keep them engaged and their spirits up, it was challenging, but I think it also made us better coaches. We had to find different ways to connect with them, and to talk about mental health and talk about softball in a different way. Instead of softball being the thing that held us together and the thing that we talk about all spring, now we were talking about things like how your family is doing, how’s your health, those kinds of things. It was definitely unique, and not something that I want to experience again, but at the end of the day, I really think it made us better coaches for it.”
As she now assumes the reins of her own program for the first time, at least at the collegiate level, Wood emphasize the winning tradition of Ball State’s softball program, as well as the university’s support of the team, as major positives that she wants to build on as head coach.
“I think the girls are probably the most exciting part of this job,” Wood said. “They’re ready to go, and eager to win a championship. The other coaches at the University are just impeccable and wanting to do damage in this conference, and to be surrounded by that just steps up your game as a coach. Our athletic director is phenomenal; she has a ton of energy and with her background and the institutions where she’s been, she knows how to win and take care of the student-athletes. All of those things kind-of combine, and honestly, I have had a smile on my face for the last week or so. It’s been really exciting going into a program that has such a great history and so much promise.”
