Erik Terry resigns as Northwood football coach, looking for move into a ‘new chapter’

Erik Terry leads the Northwood Timberwolves in a game last season. (PHOTO: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).

Northwood athletic officials have begun the search for a new varsity football coach after Erik Terry announced Monday that he has resigned after one season leading the Timberwolves in order to spend more time with his family.

The announcement was made by Sierra Wang, co-athletic director and Terry, in a letter to Northwood football families and OC Sports Zone.

Terry, 56, said he will continue to teach and be a co-athletic director at Northwood. Assistant coaches JC Clarke, who was the head coach at Northwood before Terry, and Dean Toohey, another former Timberwolf head coach, will run the off-season conditioning class, Terry said.

About a year ago, Terry said he was excited to be back coaching Northwood after taking a break from coaching. Terry resigned in 2018 as coach at neighboring Irvine High School after nine seasons including 18 years with the program. He led the Vaqueros to the CIF playoffs three times.

In his one season at Northwood, the Timberwolves were 4-6 overall and 1-4 in the Foxtrot League.

“The biggest thing it came down to is I have a lot of family commitments now that I didn’t see coming when I took the job originally,” Terry said in an interview with OC Sports Zone Monday.

“Being in a new dynamic of kids being grown and out of the house and being an empty nester (with his wife) and as much as I enjoyed this year the commitment it takes to be a head football coach took me away from a lot of activities with the family that I really missed out on.”

Terry and has wife have three children ranging from 20 to 27, two of the three live outside of Orange County. He indicated he would like to spend more time visiting and interacting with them.

“My wife works during the week as well and football season requires a lot of extra time and she’s not home with kids anymore,” Terry added. “It just didn’t think that seems fair or right anymore, all the sacrifices she made and now here we are having a chance to live our lives as just the two of us, and I’m not around on the weekends for three or four months at a time.

“Obviously, I poured a lot into it this year. What I told the kids is that we expect an uncommon commitment from them and I just don’t feel I can give them that. It just doesn’t seem fair or right. It doesn’t seem to have a commitment level we expect of them and I just don’t feel I can offer the same level of commitment.”

Terry said he enjoyed leading the Northwood football program.

“I think we did a lot of great things this year in terms of some culture things,” said Terry, who took over for Clarke, who remained as an assistant coach. “JC Clarke, that’s not his area of expertise, he’s a great football coach but I think there were some pieces of culture that we were able to build back into the program and we were able to get some more coaches in the program and kind of unify the three levels of the program a little bit more.

“So I think we made a lot of strides in that direction so we felt good about that. Obviously, we would have liked to win more games but it’s one of those years we played 10 different combinations of offensive linemen in all 10 of our games, we got hit by the injury bug, that kind of hurt us throughout the year but I definitely enjoyed the year, I enjoyed the kids, I enjoyed coaching with just a great group of coaches who I worked with but at the end of the day, I think football is behind me now.

“I think I just had to come to that realization that I’m looking to do other things. I think I’m kind of at peace with coaching football. I don’t have that burning passion or desire anymore to put in the time and the energy that it takes. I like to believe I don’t do anything without a full commitment, I just don’t have that full commitment capability with all the other things that are going on that I want to be able to do with my family.

“My daughter is in New York City, so we try and go back to see her as much as we can, I have another one in San Diego ….. I think I missed out on a lot of things this fall. I don’t regret, it’s just that I feel that’s where I’m at with my life right now. I want to spend more time with my family.”

Terry said at this point he doesn’t see himself coaching again.

“I think I had to do it again to kind of see that because I was excited when I took the job and throughout the year, but I think we all get to that point where we get to that point, no matter whatever we’re doing, maybe it’s time to take a step back,” he said.

“And these are great kids here and really want them to have somebody who can give them the time and energy and passion and commitment that they deserve, so hopefully we’ll find somebody who fits that bill.”

Terry said his plan is to continue to teach and be the co-AD at Northwood.

“I think the AD job is kind of a Monday through Friday job,” he said. “When I did the AD last year in the fall when I was just the athletic director, I was able to be much more present at home and much more present with my kids activiites and lives so I think I can balance that.”

The position will be advertised this week. Besides Clarke and Toohey, assistant coaches Phil Roh and Mike Stewart, who were on the 2025 staff, were former Northwood head coaches.

“I haven’t gotten confirmation from anybody on our staff yet if anybody is interested, we have some guys who have been head coaches. Nobody has stepped up yet. We definitely have some guys with some good experience. We’re definitely going to fly it and see what kind of applicant pool we get.”

Terry said he is looking to help the Northwood program in other ways.

“I’ve loved being a football coach, but I think I’m at a different chapter in my life right now and I’m kind of looking forward to just being a full-time AD if everything works out with that, that sounds like a nice new challenge to kind of maybe use some of the experience I have to help some of these younger coaches that we keep hiring on our staff and maybe be a mentor that sort of way, coach young coaches and not kids anymore, I guess.”

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com