[1] He grew up in New York State and attended Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for three semesters where he was a three sport (soccer, baseball and basketball) letterman.
He was awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship to study at Cornell University, where he became the soccer and tennis coach and earned a PhD in Education in 1977.
In 1976, Booth Gardner, owner of the expansion American Soccer League (ASL) franchise Tacoma Tides, hired Wood as the team’s first, and only, head coach.
When the Tides folded at the end of the 1976 season, Wood returned to Cornell to finish his doctorate in education in 1977 and then moved to the Colorado Caribous of North American Soccer League (NASL) as the assistant coach.
Wood was promoted to head coach for the last month of the 1978 season, but was unable to replicate his success at Cornell and Tacoma as the Caribous went 8–22 and well out of playoff contention.
Despite his lack of success with the Caribous, Wood was retained by the team management in the move and served for two years as the Chiefs’ head coach.