Aledo’s state title-winning coach comes out of retirement for private school
Former Aledo head football coach and athletic director Steve Wood is coming out of retirement to return to coaching, this time at Southwest Christian School in southwest Fort Worth.
The head coach’s hiring was formally announced Thursday morning after two weeks of discussions.
Wood, the longtime athletic director at Aledo High School, replaced Tim Buchanan as head football coach in 2014. Under Wood, the Bearcats were 75-4 and won three state titles.
In 2019, Wood stepped down to resume his role as athletic director, and Buchanan returned as Aledo’s head coach. Both Wood and Buchanan retired after the 2023 academic year
“I was approached by a couple of dads who are on (the Southwest Christian School) board; they want to be successful in football,” Wood, who will be 69 this month, said in a phone interview. “I was not trying to get another job, but I think this is going to fill a void for me.
“I don’t want to go there and be miserable.”
A proven, title-winning coach moving to a small private school is a stunner, but it’s part of a growing trend in high schools that want to use winning football to bolster morale, drive fundraising, increase interest and relevancy, and perhaps help with transfers, too.
Why Steve Wood wants to coach Southwest Christian
Founded in 1969, SCS has slowly grown from an enrollment of 80 students into a K-12 campus of approximately 1,000 students. The campus, located next to Benbrook Lake, features solid athletic facilities.
Wood admittedly was mostly unfamiliar with both SCS and the private school game until he was approached about coaching the team. He was a public school lifer.
“This season I helped out a friend who is the defensive coordinator at Mineral Wells, and I had a good time doing it,” he said. “I realized how much I missed coaching. When I did get out of coaching, I really didn’t want to do it, but I felt like I needed to take (the Aledo AD) job.
“I just felt like I never really finished the (coaching) job. And some people are really bad at retirement.”
He’s not returning to coaching to avoid retirement. He’s returning to coaching to win.
Why Southwest Christian hired Steve Wood
SCS wants to win football games. Wood’s record at Aledo speaks for itself; he lives nearby, and this is an easy fit.
To win would require luring a coach with Wood’s resume, and couple that with the approval to attract “players.”
“We did have those types of discussions. I can’t stomach not having a chance to win,” Wood said. “They have great kids, goal-oriented kids. There are no boundaries of where you live and being able to go to school (at SCS). If someone wants to go to SCS, and they fit the bill, we can work it out.”
At the bottom of a news release to announce Wood’s hiring, SCS included: “Southwest Christian invites families interested in joining Southwest Christian School and the Eagles football program to connect with the Admissions Office through this form.”
SCS finished 6-5 this season, and ended the year on a four-game losing streak that included a loss in the TAPPS Division II playoffs to Regents, 62-2. The team was 10-3 in 2021.
An increasing number of private high schools are beginning to follow the same path with football as many did with basketball, luring talented athletes with scholarship assistance in an effort to win games. Whereas a basketball team needs only three or four talented players to make a difference, a football team requires at least twice as many.
The Oakridge School in Arlington successfully followed this path with its football team this year. In 2023, its football team finished 1-9. This season, the team finished 10-0 and won the Southwest Preparatory Conference 3A championship.
This can be an expensive venture, and typically requires some fundraising by the school to cover the cost of scholarship assistance.
Schools are discovering what colleges did decades ago. It can be worth the money. For morale. For visibility.
All Saints Episcopal School, which is eight miles from Southwest Christian School, has become a name thanks in part to the success of its football team. It is arguably the best private high school team in the state, and possibly the Southwest.
It recently completed its second consecutive 14-0 season that included a TAPPS Division II state title. Aaron Beck has coached the team for the past 19 years and has a 144-51 record, and the program has produced several NCAA Division I players over the years.
Southwest Christian is not trying to be All Saints in one year. Or two.
It does, however, want to win, which is why Steve Wood is its new football coach.
This story was originally published December 11, 2025 at 8:00 AM.
