Eric Wood joined the Razorbacks as an Assistant Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Development in November 2009. He was responsible for the life skills and career development programs that contributed to the personal growth and character development of Razorback student-athletes. Wood, a member of the athletics department senior staff, was promoted to Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Services July 2011 and currently serves on the departments Executive Staff overseeing the Office of Student-Athlete Success (OSAS). Wood added sports administrator duties along with Deputy Title IX Coordinator duties in 2014.
Wood has provided leadership the last three years for the OSAS team helping Arkansas to a strong showing in the classroom in 2014-15. The Razorbacks completed their 11th consecutive semester with an average GPA of 3.0 or higher, a record setting 3.24 average cumulative GPA for all 460 student-athletes and have graduated approximately 200 student-athletes in the past two years. He oversees an OSAS staff that includes eight academic counselors, three learning specialists, three student-athlete development staff members and 11 graduate assistants. He provided oversight for the Razorback Leadership Academy, the Career Development Program, the Athletic Directors Council on Diversity and a newly created Office of Student-Athlete Scholarship and Awards. In addition, Woods’ responsibilities include housing, student conduct, student-athlete appearance requests and drug testing administration.
Prior to joining the Razorbacks, Wood was the Director of Student-Athlete Programs and Compliance with the Atlantic Coast Conference. Wood spent a little more than one year at Wake Forest University as the Assistant Director of Compliance and at the University of New Haven as the Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance and Student Development. Prior to New Haven, he was selected as one of 12 interns nationally for the NCAA’s internship program with the Governance Group immediately following two years as a graduate assistant with Compliance Services in the Clemson University Athletics Department.
A 2009 graduate of the NCAA’s Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Males and Females, Wood served as a facilitator for three national and two regional NCAA leadership conferences, chair of the NCAA Student Athlete Affairs Group, a member of the Division I-A Athletic Director’s Student Task Force and most recently as a member of the Minority Opportunities Athletic Association (MOAA) Awards Committee. Wood is a 1998 graduate of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., earning his degree in psychology. He was a three-year starter at cornerback for the Pioneer football team earning the Medal of Merit, the athletic department’s highest honor, as the student-athlete of the year his senior year. Wood completed his master’s degree in counseling and guidance services at Clemson University in May 2000 and is currently working on his Doctorate in Recreation and Sport Management at the University of Arkansas in the College of Education and Health Professions.
Wood and his wife Celia have three daughters, Eliana, Nia and Alyssa.
