Double Duty
VALPARAISO, Ind. – A lot of college athletes get summer jobs stocking shelves or serving food, but some college coaches get side jobs that are way cooler.
Take former major leaguer Tracy Woodson, for example. His playing days well behind him at this point, Woodson is the head baseball coach at Valparaiso University. And in his spare time, he referees Division I basketball.
Woodson was a star on the diamond at NC State and was named the ACC Player of the Year in 1984. He spent 13 years playing professional baseball, including five big league seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals. His accomplishments include a 1988 World Series ring, three Triple-A championships and a pair of minor league all-star appearances. After he retired from playing following the 1996 season, Woodson went straight into coaching and managed as high as the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes and in 2003 was tabbed by Baseball America as one of the top managerial prospects in the minor leagues. In 2006, Woodson made an uncommon career move and left the professional levels to coach collegiate baseball at Valpo.
Through it all, basketball was always there.
“I started reffing at the YMCA when I was 23, after I got out of school, just to get some extra money and pick up a free membership at the Y to work out,” Woodson said.
There was an agreement when he took the job at Valparaiso, Woodson said: He would finish his schooling, and the athletic department would allow him to continue refereeing basketball on the side. Woodson graduated from Valpo in 2010 with a degree in sport management.
Woodson was inspired to take up refereeing by his father, Bill, who officiated at the high school and small college levels. During the first offseason at the YMCA, a colleague told Woodson he should consider moving to the higher levels.
That advice stuck with Woodson after his playing days ended. He refereed one Division I basketball game during the 1996-97 season and since then has worked almost 400 games. He now refs exclusively in the Atlantic 10 and the Southeastern Conference.
Despite being a former major leaguer and current collegiate head coach, Woodson figures he’s probably under the microscope more often in his role as an official thanks to television.
“The amount of money now that’s invested in football and basketball, every call you make is blown up a little bit,” he said. “If you make a call against the home team, they’re going to boo.”
Maybe more importantly, Woodson gets to come home to 25 or 30 of his biggest supporters and closest critics.
“My players love it. They ask my when is the TV game and some of them are texting me good call/bad call,” Woodson said with a laugh. “It’s just a bonus for me.”
Woodson will work his 20th and final game of this season on Saturday when Texas A&M faces Georgia. Then, it will be time to hang up the whistle and turn his focus toward Valparaiso’s defense of its Horizon League championship.
But then again, the Crusaders are always his focus.
“I’m 100 percent baseball. I’m sure people ask questions here, but that’s what I’ve got my assistant coaches for,” Woodson said.
He also added that he’s not the only collegiate coach with multiple projects on his plate. “I know other head coaches go other places to speak or to do other things. I just referee basketball.”
The excitement Woodson has for baseball season is palpable. His office is stuffed with boxes of the team’s new hats: home white, road grey and a camouflage-patterned alternate.
The Baseball America preview of the Horizon League came out on Monday and Woodson is quick to downplay the No. 3 ranking given to the Crusaders.
“We knew people were going to sit back and say ‘Valpo lost a lot of pitching; they’re not going to be very good,’” Woodson said. “People are going to be surprised. I’m not going to go out and schedule Arizona, South Florida and Long Beach State if I don’t think we can play with them.”
Woodson will soon get the chance to prove his prediction of success. Baseball season begins February 15 for the Crusaders as Valpo travels to Nashville, Tenn., for matchups with Belmont and Ohio.
