In October of 2021, former Big Red Soccer players gathered on campus to celebrate our connection to the program, our love of Cornell, and to remember Coach Dan Wood. It was a great weekend. We enjoyed a nice weekend highlighted by an injury free alumni game, a Cornell Men's Soccer victory over Harvard, connected with current players, visited with Coach Smith, and told a few stories from the past.
Since the start of Coach Smith’s career at Cornell, it is evident that this program is on the cusp of doing great things. The Cornell Men's Soccer Association meets frequently throughout the year and Coach Smith makes himself available on each occasion. He is a compelling individual, and anyone who spends time with him understands why. He is a great coach in every sense of that word, and more importantly, is a great person with great character. We’re lucky to have him at the helm, and we aim to keep him there!
At our annual Cornell Men’s Soccer Association meeting that weekend, we discussed how to best support the team moving forward. We understood that if we wanted a first-rate program, where our athletes have a great experience and the team is consistently vying for Ivy League titles, we needed a commitment from the university to support the program at an appropriate level. We also recognized that this needed to be a partnership with alums doing their part to financially support the program. In addition to raising money to meet our annual fundraising goals, we decided to make a push to raise $1.5MM to invest in program endowment and name the head coach’s position. At the time, soccer and golf were the only two men’s teams at Cornell whose head coach position was not endowed.
We, as a committee, unanimously decided to name the coaching position in memory of Coach Daniel P. Wood Ph.D ’77. Coach Wood had a significant impact on the program and a generation of Cornell players. He brought the program to national prominence in the 1970's. He took the team to the final four in 1972 and helped coach Cornell's first Ivy League Championship in 1975. Dan was one of the most successful and beloved head coaches in program history, leading the team to a 52-20-6 mark during his five-year tenure from 1971-75.
Similarly, today’s coach, John Smith, has a passion for the game and is a great tactician with an inspiring presence. Like Coach Wood, he is a man of integrity who is committed to building a culture of excellence at Cornell.
The end result was another victory for Men’s Soccer. We successfully raised the money to name the head coaching position within three months of the start of the initiative. Led by the CMSA Endowment sub-committee chairs, Eric Thornburg `82, Doug Holcomb `75 and Dave "Emmo" Emmerson '76, we locked-in commitments totaling $1,517,000 from 34 former players, a manager and a current parent. We are excited to announce that Coach John Smith’s formal title is now, the Dr. Daniel P. Wood Head Coach of Men’s Soccer.
