Basketball Coach C.J. Woods takes on school district athletics director role

C.J. Woods has been named the La Conner School District’s new director of athletics after his first year as a teacher and boys’ head basketball coach.

The district has been splitting the assistant principal/athletics director position.

Woods will retain his coaching position and teach physical education and health at the middle school. He has already done a deep dive into the intricacies of the position.

“The role ranges from day-to-day athletic organization to big project planning and organization,” he said. “Every day you coordinate with transportation, coaches, educators, volunteers, referees, the WIAA (Washington Interscholastic Activities Association) and other ADs (athletic directors) to provide the right opportunities for our athletes to have the best experience possible.

“The athletics director,” said Woods, “has the role of maintaining and organizing all athletics-related events while also building a culture which the community and the athletes can be proud of.”

Woods said he is determined to have his job done the right way, by spending enough time organizing and preparing for athletic events.

“Athletics has always been a strong emphasis in La Conner,” he said, “and ultimately, it’s about investing in the lives of our students and our community. We want those associated with us to come away from our program with pride and trust and know there was a genuine investment in the individual.”

Woods said he has seen the impact athletics has made on students’ lives. It’s an impact, he added, that extends beyond the athletic arena.

“One of the best things athletics brings is an opportunity to bring people together, and grow together,” Woods said.

Woods is doing that prior to the start of the 2022-23 school year with his off-season work with the Braves’ basketball team.

“Our boys’ basketball team has had a fantastic summer,” he said, “and I’m excited to be able to continue to coach this group of young men.”

Woods, who is currently working on a master’s degree in athletics administration and coaching, looks to Rod Turnbull as his role model, the veteran Friday Harbor coach and athletics director, for whom he played as a member of Wolverines’ sports programs.

Turnbull won the state athletics director of the year several times, Woods said. That’s where his interest in the position first started.

Woods succeeds Mikki Gifford, who last year served as the athletics director/assistant middle and high school principal.

Superintendent Will Nelson said Tanya Houle, a Turtle Mountain Chippewa member who most recently taught at Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary School, will take on the administrative half of the role.

Woods graduated from the University of Idaho in 2020.