Former Piedmont College head men's and women's tennis coach Shane Wood sat down with Sports Information Director Richard Dombrowsky for a question and answer session. Wood led the programs to nine Great South Athletic Conference championships in his eight years at the helm. Wood accepted the job at NCAA Division-I Jacksonville University where he will lead both the men's and women's tennis programs.

1. The move to JU is an exciting time for you and your family. What are you most excited about with your new job?
I have always wanted to coach at the Division-I level. It is the highest level of collegiate tennis and I am really looking forward to the opportunity to recruit and coach scholarship athletes. It has always been a dream of mine, and now I am blessed to have the opportunity at such a tremendous institution like Jacksonville University.

2. You had an incredible tenure at Piedmont College. What was the secret to all your success?
The biggest thing was I never accepted the fact that we were a fledgling program. When I first started there weren't many expectations but I am such a competitive person I knew that we could win right away. I recruited athletes spelling out to them that we could win right away, and our players bought in and everything grew from that mentality.

3. Tell me one of your favorite memories about the tennis teams on both the men and women's side.
On the women's side we finished second in the conference for a few years and the year we finally broke through we were able to do it as the tournament host. It was so rewarding because that team contained four seniors that had finished runner-up and to see them finally achieve their goal was extremely gratifying. On the men's side it is close between two moments. The first was winning our first Great South championship. We were able to defeat Maryville College 4-3 after dropping a pair of matches against them during the regular season. After the final victory the players rushed the court and I got dumped with a cooler of water, I will never forget that moment. The second is competing in the NCAA Tournament in 2004. Our players did such a great job that season and to see it all culminate at the national tournament was incredible.

4. What is the biggest regular-season victory you can remember?
It was during the 2004 season on the men's side. In one weekend we were able to defeat Averett University at their place. It was the probably the victory that pushed us into the national tournament and to defeat them at their home court was a credit to our players. For the women it probably occured last season when we defeated Agnes Scott College on the road with our extremely young team. I remember how well we played and were able to pull out a 5-4 victory, definately the brightest moment of the 2007 season.

5. What will you miss the most about your time at Piedmont?
PC will always be a home to me. The biggest thing I will miss is the relationships I developed across the entire campus. From the adminstration to my fellow coaches in the athletic department to the players I was blessed to coach. The relationships are definately what I will miss the most.

6. I can speak personally from experience that you were a legend in the athletic department during all of the coaching staff pick-up contests in the gym. From basketball to volleyball we all shared a lot of great memories. What will you do without those competitive contests?
I really don't know what I will do. I am starting fresh here at Jacksonville, and am so excited to get going witht he tennis teams. I will really miss all the pick up games with my fellow coaches at PC, we really had a great time. Maybe I will be able to find some pick up games once I get settled in.