Skip to main content

Coaches Bios

Head Coach Kate Wood

Kate Wood is entering her twelfth season as the head coach of McGill-Toolen Catholic’s Dirty Dozen.  Coach Wood has led the Dirty Dozen to five 7A State Championships (2017, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024), three 7A State Runner-ups (2015, 2019, 2021) and three 7A Final Four appearances (2014, 2016, 2020)  In 11 seasons, Wood has led the Dirty Dozen to 451 wins and 85 losses. For two consecutive seasons, the most prestigious award in the state- the Alabama Gatorade player of the Year came from McGill-Toolen Catholic- 2017 Kenya McQuirter and 2018 Lillie Fromdahl, and in 2022, Anna Grace Sparks was named the Alabama Gatorade player of the Year.  Coach Wood has also coached 5 AVCA All Americans in her 11 years at McT- Including McQuirter, Sparks, Emma Moore, Paris McQuirter, and Alice Wood. 
 
Kate is an active member of the AVCA and has been part of the Region 3 AVCA committee for the past eight years. She is also a member of the Alabama High School Coaches Association and the Mobile County Coaches Association, where she serves as chair for the Kiwanis Player of the Week selections. 
 
Kate is a native of Arlington, Texas, where she attended Lamar High School. She was on the first Lamar volleyball team to reach the state playoffs. She received many awards throughout high school including Newcomer of the Year in 1992, 1st Team All District in 1992, 1993, and 1994, and All Area Team in 1994. She was named to the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram’s Super Team in 1994.  Kate attended Troy University from 1995-1997 on a volleyball scholarship as a middle blocker, where she was named to the 2nd Team All Conference her sophomore year. In 1997, she returned home to play at the University of Texas at Arlington. In 1998, Kate was a starter on the Southland Conference Champion team who went 19-1 in conference. Kate received the Coaches Leadership Award in 1998.
 
After graduating from UTA, Coach Wood returned to her alma mater Lamar High School as the Junior Varsity coach from 2000-2008. In 2009 she was promoted to the head coach. During 6 seasons as the varsity coach, Lamar reached the playoffs in the highest classification in Texas. In 2010, Lamar claimed a District Championship, and Coach Wood was named the District Coach of the Year. During Coach Wood’s leadership at Lamar, the team reached as far as the Elite 8 in the state of Texas, a school record.
 
From 2000-2009 Coach Wood also helped direct North Dallas Juniors and led numerous teams to the USAV Junior National Tournament, finishing as high as 16th in the nation in the 17 Open division in 2006. Starting in 2011 Coach Wood was asked to lead the 12’s division at Texas Advantage Volleyball, the #1 ranked club in Texas for the past nine years. In 2013, TAV was also ranked the #1 club in the United States. In 2013, her 12 Black team finished 2nd in the nation at the USAV Junior National Tournament, and in 2014 her 12 Black team finished 3rd in the nation at the USAV Junior National Tournament.
 
Since coming to McGill-Toolen, Coach Wood has started a club- Lower Alabama Volleyball (LAV). In its tenth year, the club has expanded to over twenty teams and fields teams in age divisions 11U-18U as well as programming for tots, beginners, and beach volleyball.  Over these ten years- 20 teams have qualified for the USAV Junior National Tournament, and countless more have competed in the AAU National Championships. In 2023, the 16 National Black team finished on the medal stand finishing 3rd in the 16 National Division. 
 
Coach Wood met her husband Brent while attending Troy University. They lived in Texas for 16 years. Brent is a native of Fairhope, Alabama, and he encouraged her to apply for the McGill-Toolen Catholic High School position. They reside in Fairhope, have been married for 26 years, and together they have three children Ella,  Thomas,  and Alice. 

 

Junior Varsity Head Coach and Varsity Assistant: Laura Johnson

Laura is in her seventh season with McGill-Toolen Catholic as the varsity assistant coach and JV Head Coach. She has been integral in the the program's success. She was a four-year letter winner at Centerburg High School competing in Volleyball and Basketball.  She was named Second Team-All Conference her sophomore year. During her junior year she earned.  First Team-All Conference and Conference Player of the Year, First Team-All District and District Player of the Year and was named Second Team All-State. Wrapping up her High School Career with an 89-1 in Mid-Buckeye Conference record,  she again earned Conference and District Player of the Year and First Team All-Conference, District and State. She participated in the District and State All-Star matches.  Laura played for Matchpoint Volleyball under Coach Jim Stone and Kaepa Buckeye. 
 
Laura earned a scholarship to Troy University where she played four years. Her senior year she was named co-captain, although multiple injuries and a major shoulder surgery kept her off the court most of the season, the Trojans qualified for their first Sun Belt Conference Championships since 2005.
 
Laura coached club for Deep South Volleyball Club out of Dothan, Alabama from 2008-2012. After leaving Troy, Laura went to Lincoln Memorial University, a NCAA Division II program in Harrogate, TN where she was the Assistant Coach for one season. During that the 2012 season the Lady Railsplitter’s qualified for Regionals of the NCAA Championship for the fifth time in school history. Also, during her time in Tennessee, she coached for Phoenix Rising Volleyball Club 17U. Back in Montgomery, Alabama, Laura became the Head Coach at Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School and coached club for Capital City Juniors (CCJ) and ran the Developmental Program. She served as the Varsity Assistant and Head JV coach and was later appointed the Head Coach of the Murphy Volleyball program.
 
 Laura is in her seventh year with LAV, as the recruiting coordinator as well as the master coach for all the 12 and under teams in the club. She is married to her wonderful husband Nathan and has two beautiful daughters Mia and Maikka. 
 
Varsity Assistant and Middle School:  Samantha Nichols
 
Sam is from Cypress, TX where she played for a competitive homeschool league, Texas Tornados. She was the captain and named on the All American team sophomore, junior, and senior year. Texas Tornados won nationals 2015. She also played for Houston Juniors Volleyball club all 4 years of high school as a middle blocker. She graduated from the University of Mobile May 2020 with a degree in Kinesiology and Exercise Science. During her college career she broke and set school records for single season blocks, total career solo blocks, and total career blocks. She hit the milestones of 500 blocks and 1,000 kills. She led the conference in hitting percentage all of 2019. She made the 2016 and 2017 Second All-Conference Team, 2016 All-Freshman Team, 2018 and 2019 First All-Conference Team, and was named 2019 Player of the Year. Samantha also works as a facility manager and coach at LAV.  She coached at Ocean Springs as the head Junior Varsity coach and assistant Varsity coach, and is going into her 3rd year with McGill-Toolen. 
 
 

JV Assistant Coach 

Bio Coming Soon 

 

Freshman Coach 

Bio Coming Soon

 

Middle School Head Coach 

Bio Coming Soon

 

Middle School Head Coach 

Bio Coming Soon