Thiessen-Wood history adds chapter

They're separated by only three miles as they enter tonight's Battle of Bell Street, but Amarillo High's Brad Thiessen and Randall's Bryan Wood have actually been closer than that for a while.

When the two coaches meet in a 7:30 p.m. football season opener at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium, it won't be the first time they have been on opposing sidelines. They have a history dating back to when Thiessen coached at Spearman and Wood led Sunray - powerful area programs during the first part of this decade.

Both coaches have beaten each other before and have scored plenty of wins over other coaches as well. Now comes the latest chance for the veteran Wood and even more veteran Thiessen to test their coaching mettle against each other as they move up in class.

If there's anyone who knows about the origins of Wood's coaching career, it's Thiessen. In 1993, when Thiessen was the head coach at Roby, he gave Wood his first job as an assistant.

"He was always a good coach," Thiessen said of Wood. "He builds relationships with kids. After a while, people see what a good heart he has."

Wood has justified Thiessen's early trust in him as in 10 seasons he's compiled an 85-35 record and is in his first season at Randall. Thiessen, who's 140-75 in his career, coached against his protege four times in a 14-month period when they were Class 1A rivals.

Coaching against Thiessen again reminds Wood of his early days in Roby when his coaching career began fruition and he eventually absorbed Thiessen's influence.

"I wouldn't say it's a measurement situation (with Thiessen)," Wood said. "It was more of a philosophy situation. I remembered that first year how passionate he was about the game."

Thiessen won a state title at Stratford in 2000 with the first area team to go 16-0 in a season. His success carried over in subsequent seasons, including 2003, when Stratford went 11-2.

The only two losses for the Elks that year? To Roby and Wood, including a playoff loss, which has to add some spice to tonight's game.

Thiessen wasn't surprised that the pupil eventually beat the teacher.

"We both in a sense learned from the same guy (Roby coach Harold Mayo)," Thiessen said. "Our system was the same, so when we first met as head coaches, we were running the exact same terminology."

Yet, the two coaches don't run the same offense. AHS runs a split back, while Randall runs a wing-T.

But Thiessen and Wood (and their successful programs) share more similarities than differences as the two have remained friends for the past 16 years.

"Any time you're playing someone who's a friend makes it harder," Wood said. "Pretty much every night when you're playing someone in the Panhandle, you're going against someone who's your friend."

But Wood and Thiessen won't be exchanging pleasantries until well after the final gun tonight.

And while they're familiar with each other, Thiessen isn't ruling out anything in his game plan.

"(Wood) always has a few surprises," Thiessen said. "I don't know what he's going to hang his hat on this time because he's just learning his team."