Ben Wood Named Men's Basketball Assistant Coach
Central Connecticut men's basketball head coach Patrick Sellers has added Ben Wood to his staff as an assistant coach for the 2021-22 season it was announced Friday. Wood was most recently an assistant coach at Arizona State.
"We are happy to welcome Ben Wood to the Blue Devil family," said Sellers. "Ben and I have worked together in the past and have been a part of some great teams. Ben will be a vital piece in helping us take this program to a championship level. Coach Wood will play a big role in our academics, recruiting and player development. I'm very happy to compete alongside Ben again."
Wood, who is a native of Woodbury, CT, has been at Arizona State since 2015 when he joined head coach Bobby Hurley's staff as Special Assistant to the Head Coach. He helped the program to a pair of NCAA Tournament bids during his time at ASU, including its first back-to-back appearances since 1980-81. The 2017-18 squad was the last unbeaten team in the nation at 12-0 and was ranked as high as third in the nation. The 2019-20 team won 20 games against the 13th-toughest schedule before the season was cut short. He was also part of a program that had eight wins against ranked teams, including victories over No. 1-ranked Kansas and No. 2 Kansas in back-to-back seasons.
Prior to his time with the Sun Devils, Wood was at Buffalo in 2014-15 helping the Bulls earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament. He served a number of roles with the program, including team travel and film exchange. He was in a similar role at the University of Rhode Island and he spent the 2012-13 season as the Rams' director of player development, running the team's video operations, coordinating film exchange and opponent breakdowns and edits. He also oversaw Rhode Island's community relations program, the staff of team managers and served as the staff liaison with the academic services office.
Wood is a graduate of UConn, earning both his bachelor's degree in 2007 and master's degree in 2009 in geography. While with the Huskies he served as the head manager for the men's basketball team. He was part of the a program that won the 2011 National Championship. He also served as the Huskies' head graduate manager, and was part of the program advancing to two Final Fours and three Elite Eights. During his time at UConn, he was part two Big East Championships (2006 and 2011).
From 2007-11, he was the co-director of the Jim Calhoun Basketball Camp, which featured more than 1,200 youth aged 8-17 each year. Wood was responsible for hiring camp's coaches, administrative and support staff and worked with University Residential and Meal Services department to make all housing and meal arrangements.
