Sean Woods, the head men’s lacrosse coach at Colorado College, has been offered the head coaching job at Amherst College, according to sources close to the situation.
Although there was no confirmation that he had accepted the position by press time, Woods was one of four applicants who were on campus last week to be interviewed by faculty, lacrosse alumni and current players.
Colorado College senior athletics director Greg Capell said he was aware that Woods had applied for the Amherst coaching position but hadn’t heard whether Amherst had offered him the job. “I’ve worked with Sean and know him well and would hate to lose him,” said Capell.
During his 10 seasons at Colorado College, the Tigers posted a combined record of 109-42. The Tigers play in the Division III Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference where Woods was named conference coach of the year in 2013, 2019 and 2021.
The Colorado College media guide describes him as a “master motivator with an attention to detail.”
This season, the Tigers finished 13-4 and were beaten by RIT in the NCAA Division III quarterfinals. It was their eighth NCAA tournament appearance under Woods’ watch, and the first time in program history they reached the quarterfinals.
A native of Newport, R.I., Woods had previously spent five years as the head coach at Mars Hill College in North Carolina, where he posted an overall record of 51-24.
Woods is a graduate of Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, where he was a four-year starter. He began his coaching career at Brown University and subsequently joined the staff at Washington College in Chestertown, Md., where he was the offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator.
The Amherst vacancy was created when it was announced that Rashad Devoe, who was hired in June 2020, would not return to the program. Devoe never coached an official game for the Mammoths after the NESCAC didn’t participate in spring sports in 2021.
Devoe had replaced Jon Thompson, who had parted ways with the college in March 2020 after the beginning of an investigation into a racial incident involving members of the lacrosse program. Thompson moved on to Air Force, where he was an assistant this past spring.