Woods steps down as B-C football coach
Beth-Center will be looking for a new head football coach for the first time since 1998.
Ed Woods, who led the Bulldogs to a 113-55 record in 17 seasons, submitted his resignation on Monday.
“I just felt it was time for me to move on,” Woods said. “I don’t know if that means take a break from coaching football for awhile or if it means I’m done. I just felt it was time for me to take a step back and pass the torch to someone else.”
Woods, a Beth-Center graduate, guided B-C to a 7-2 regular season and a second-place finish in the Tri-County South in 2015. His final game at B-C was a 28-12 WPIAL home playoff loss to Avonworth on Nov. 6.
Prior to that, the Bulldogs had put together back-to-back perfect 9-0 regular seasons in capping a four-year run as Tri-County South champions.
Woods’ best year at Beth-Center came in 2006 when the Bulldogs had their first unbeaten regular season under him, another 9-0 campaign while winning the Black Hill Conference crown. The Bulldogs went on to defeat North Catholic, 57-32, and Bishop Canevin, 21-14, in the playoffs before losing to eventual WPIAL champion Clairton in the semifinals, 31-6, to cap an 11-1 season.
“No doubt. The record speaks for itself,” Woods said. “That was a real good football team. There were a lot of talented athletes on that team, a lot of good kids.
“But, regardless of wins and losses, they were all special. I never had a so-called ‘bad’ football team. I thought they were all good kids, good parents.”
Two years later, Beth-Center would join the Tri-County South, a conference Woods dominated for the next eight years, finishing first five times and second three times.
Although he lost his last six postseason games, some of them in excruciating fashion, Woods won five playoffs games in a six-year span from 2005 to 2010. Beth-Center defeated Serra Catholic, 38-17, in 2009 and Cornell, 34-12, in 2010.
In Woods’ final 13 years at Beth-Center his teams finished the regular season 9-0 three times, 8-1 four times, 7-2 five times and 5-4 once for a combined mark of 99-18 for an .846 winning percentage.
Beth-Center will move up to Class AA next season as the PIAA shifts to six classifications.
When asked if he’s had a chance to take a step back and assess his overall career, Woods said no.
“To be honest with you, I haven’t really gotten that far,” Woods said. “I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do.
“I can say I’m real proud of what I’ve done with the guys … the players and the parents and everyone that was involved with this program over the years.
“I definitely feel that I’m leaving the program in better shape than what it was when I was hired in 1999.”