Wayne Hogwood’s successful nine-year tenure the winningest head coach in the history of the Wakefield High School football program has come to an end.
Hogwood stepped down in recent days because of family matters. He has three young children who are heavily involved in multiple youth sports, and Hogwood wants to spend time for the next couple of years, or so, being involved with watching them play during the fall and helping his wife transporting the three to games and practices.
“It’s not a football thing,” Hogwood said. “It was a very tough decision that I’ve thought about for a year. But it’s my turn to help out and be a parent in this situation. I need to take care of business at home.”
Hogwood said he won’t coach football at any level or any position for at least two years. He didn’t rule out returning to high-school coaching in the future.
Hogwood led Wakefield to 40 wins, two district championships, and six playoff appearances – plus the team’s lone postseason win in history – during his nine campaigns in charge.
The Warriors finished 5-5 overall and second in the Liberty District this past season with a 4-1 mark, and qualified for the playoffs for a record third straight time.
The Warriors’ combined district season the past three campaigns was 11-3.
Wakefield moved from the National to what some consider the tougher Liberty District for the 2021 season and the Warriors finished second.
“It has been great coaching at Wakefield and we had some success,” Hogwood said.
Wakefield’s best season under Hogwood came in 2015 when the Warriors finished 6-0 and won the Capitol District, finishing 8-3 overall. The year before, Wakefield was 8-4 overall, going 1-1 in the region playoffs.
When Hogwood was hired in January of 2013 as Wakefield’s head coach, he returned to a program where he played in high school as the Warriors’ quarterback. He took over a team that finished 0-10 in 2012. The Warriors improved to 3-7 his first season, then made the playoffs the next fall and finished 8-4, the team’s first winning season since 1983.
Hogwood was chosen as the Sun Gazette’s Coach of the Year in both 2014 and 2015 when the team amassed 16 wins in the back-to-back campaigns. A number of his players over the years were first-team all-Sun Gazette selections, with a number playing in college.
Prior to taking the Wakefield job, Hogwood was the defensive coordinator of the Arlington rival Yorktown High School team for four seasons, and was an assistant on that staff for eight.
After playing at Wakefield, Hogwood was a standout quarterback at Division III Shenandoah University. Hogwood also was a standout at the position at Wakefield, passing for 1,776 yards his senior year when the Warriors finished 3-7 in 1999.
Wakefield has not hired Hogwood’s replacement.