Rodney Woods fired from coaching at Wayne County

Mar. 28—MONTICELLO — Hall of Fame Wayne County High School boys basketball head coach Rodney Woods was fired on Monday, after 38 years on the Cardinals' bench.

Woods had 826 victories, including nine 12th Region tournament titles and a KHSAA state runner-up finish in 1989. He has won more games than any active high school coach in Kentucky and is fourth on the state's all-time win list with his 44-year mark of 824-470. Twice he was named the state's Coach of the Year and has been awarded the 12th Region Coach of the Year 11 times.

Woods would have had 11 of his 12 players of this year's team, that went 24-8 before losing to Danville Christian Academy in the 12th Region Tournament, back for two more years.

WYMT television received the following statement from Wayne County Schools:

"Wayne County Schools has made the decision to go in a new direction with some of their athletic programs. At the beginning of this school year, Superintendent Don Neal and the Board of Education gave all the coaches in the athletic department raises, in an attempt to be more equitable towards the many sports programs at Wayne County Schools."

Named by the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches, Woods was one of Kentucky's inaugural recipients of the 2021 NHSBCA John Wooden Legacy Award. Also, Woods has been inducted into the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame and the Dawahares/Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame.