Woodrow Wilson will lose a head football coach, but gain a full-time athletic director this fall.
Bruce Land, who has been the head football coach and athletic director at Woodrow the past eight years, is giving up his coaching duties to concentrate on his job as the athletic director.
“I had been thinking about it for a long time,” says Land, 55. “I could retire right now if I wanted to, but there are still some things I want to do.”
With Land’s decision coming so late in the school year, Woodrow and DISD officials will have to work fast to find a replacement. Land says the deadline for applications was May 17 and a decision will be made soon.
“I look for it to be a week or so after school’s out before any kind of a decision is made,” Land says. “I’m going to be involved in the hiring, but the principal (Eduardo Torres) is going to make the final decision.”
The lateness of the change probably increases the chances of an assistant from Land’s staff or another DISD school getting the promotion to head coach. Although Woodrow, a Class 4A school, does not have spring practice, the start of the season is just three months away.
Land’s decision comes at the end of a banner year for Woodrow athletics. The Wildcats won 10 district titles in 1993-94.
Helping maintain a well-rounded athletic program was one of Land’s reasons to become a full-time athletic director. He says the new position will give him more time to spend with sports and coaches outside of football. Land says he will work on improving the facilities at Woodrow and spend time putting records on a computer system.
Although Land could not recall his overall record as Woodrow’s head football coach, his best team was in 1991 when the Wildcats were 6-5 and won their first district title since 1969.
Even though he is looking forward to the challenge of being a full-time athletic director, Land says there are things he will miss about coaching.
“I’ll just miss the competition, the strategy and preparation for the games,” Land says, “And I’ll miss getting to know the kids and the camaraderie.”
