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The Huskies (5-2) are off to their strong start thanks to Woods, their leader in scoring and rebounding.
Northeastern University (5-2) is off to its best start in men’s basketball since 2015-16. The Huskies’ promising play has been driven by junior Harold Woods, a 6-foot-5 guard who leads the team with a highly efficient 16.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.
“He wants to win,” Northeastern coach Bill Coen says. “He wants to be good. He allows you to coach him. He values education. He wants a path to a better and a brighter life, and he’s willing to work for it.
“So he’s all the things you want in a student-athlete,” Coen says of Woods, whose inspiring qualities will be on display at 1 p.m. Saturday when the Huskies visit Vermont (streaming on ESPN+).
Woods credits Coen with urging him last summer to express leadership — understanding that he would be among the most experienced starters this season.
“He said, ‘The basketball part is going to come, but we need a leader,’” Woods says. “I’m trying to be a good role model. It’s really hard but I feel like I’m making good progress. I try to be there for everybody on the team. Try to be like a cool uncle. But I’m not perfect.”
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His coaches have seen leadership potential in Woods since he started playing organized basketball as a freshman at Hammond High School in Indiana.
“My [first] coach made me play point guard, so that was a lot,” Woods says. “My sophomore year I took a big jump and the coach got on me for missing layups. I had to be the first one to practice and last one out. If somebody else messed up, I had to run for it.”
All of this was meant to help Woods recognize his own leadership qualities.
“He kept me working out at five in the morning,” says Woods, who is majoring in business administration and communication studies. “I guess it all paid off because I’m here now.”
His approach to basketball extends to the most important aspects of his life. Woods sees himself as a role model for his four younger siblings.
“My dad went to jail a couple times so I had to be there,” he says. “He always told us, ‘Keep playing basketball and just believe in family, because we’re all we got.’
“My mom has always been there. She’s like my best friend. My dad would get on me if I had a bad game in high school. So my mom would tell me, ‘Keep your head up. You put all the work in. Just keep believing.’
“Because I’m older now, I’m trying to be a good role model for my family, for my little brothers playing basketball. So when they see me, I just want them to see if I could do it, they could do it. I want them to be better than me.”
Woods wants them to surpass him?
“Well, not really,” he admits with a small smile. “But my little brother, Mike, I feel like he could be really good. He thinks he’s better than me already. So I just keep trying to push him to be good.”
Two years ago, in reaction to the mercenary era of NIL and the transport portal, Coen decided to make a long-term investment in player development around Woods and his promising freshman class. They went 22-40 over their first two seasons while learning the hard way.
Woods began as a defender who learned how to play without the ball. This season he’s shooting 55.4% with two games of 26 or more points and three double-doubles.
“Just trying to do everything the right way,” Woods says. “Don’t try to force it. Just let the game come to you. It could be my day. It could be somebody else’s day, so just be happy for each other.”
“He’s the best cutter on the team,” Coen says of Woods. “He hunts opportunities where defenses may lose vision of where he’s at. He hunts those offensive rebounds and the tight spaces where he can finish behind the defense. And he works on that daily. It’s not something that he’s trying out in the middle of the game. He takes shots in games that he’s practiced on a daily basis. That’s why he’s shooting a really high percentage.”
Before last season Coen asked Woods to consider a vision test. Wearing prescription goggles helped his shooting percentage climb from 32.6% as a freshman to 54%.
“He maintains that humility and drive to be better and to reach higher,” Coen says. “He’s got his sights set on bigger things and he’s not afraid to work for those things. He’s a big reason why we’re off to such a terrific start.
“If one thing came out of his earlier years [at Northeastern] it’s that it fed that fire to win and do what is necessary to win. And part of that, as an upperclassman and as a starter, is leadership. Many people talk about it but they don’t understand the outlay of energy that’s required to be a good leader — that you have to pour yourself into your teammates. Even though things might not be going great in your life there’s a responsibility that you have to help the guys who are coming up behind you and the guys that are beside you.
“And sometimes that’s the hardest part of leadership is to lead the guys that you’re friends with and peers with,” Coen adds. “But he’s taken that on. He’s not afraid to speak his mind and hold people accountable. I think that’s the toughest thing for young people to realize — that we’re all in this together, and we need to hold each other accountable for the habits that produce success.”