Kenneth Manoj is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Liberty High School for AZPreps365.com

When coach Mark Wood entered the locker room, he expected to see the tears and the pain. 

The date is Saturday, March 13, and the Liberty Lions boys basketball team has just lost a nail-biting game to Brophy Prep, 70-66. After going undefeated in the 6A Desert Valley region, Liberty faced a dominant Broncos squad in the quarterfinals, but could not find the answers late. 

As Wood looked around the locker room, he noticed one person without sadness or disappointment on his face, and it was the last person he expected: A.J. Snow.

“I had decided, going into this run, that I was really going to let go of the outcome,” Snow said. 

It was a welcome shock for Wood to hear Snow, a senior with a maniacal competitive spirit, take one of Wood’s core teachings to heart: focus on playing with winning effort and a winning attitude, not the result. 

While they fell short of winning their first state championship, Wood did not lament the missed opportunity. 

“We left it all out there… every coach, every player, in all honesty, gave everything they had. I mean, really emptied their tank this season,” Wood said. 

While the Lions have put together season performances recently to suggest this success will continue, Wood’s first years with the program illustrated the struggles that come with building your own program. 

When Wood joined Liberty for the 2006-2007 season he understood that he would be under a new level of scrutiny. Wood had done well previously at Cactus, coaching them to two region titles and one region tournament championship in his four years there. 

But as the first coach for a brand-new high school, there was nothing he could do to change the reality. For better or for worse, this program would begin with his name, his reign. 

As the school opened with freshmen only, Wood did not have a varsity team until 2009. During these formative years, Wood learned a lot about how he wanted his team to play and what type of program he wanted to build. 

While Wood had always employed offensive and defensive schemes that pushed the pace of play and promoted perimeter shot creation over post play, Wood still followed the basics of traditional basketball: play only your best guys for as long as possible, channel the scoring opportunities through the most-talented scorers, and press only in short bursts.

But as the decade turned, so did Wood’s philosophy of basketball. He became enamored with the idea of pressing higher and higher, pushing the pace and expanding his rotation. 

In those first three years with the varsity team, Wood was dealt with his fair share of stumbles. But none of them could have prepared him for the 2012-2013 season. From a schism in the locker room between players and coaches to external pressures and criticisms, Wood could only describe the chaos of the year as “the collapse of our culture.”

“I actually [typed] out my resignation," Wood said. "I had been through hell, lost God only knows how many years on my life. I just couldn’t do it anymore. I’m not dealing with this anymore.” 

The players still on Wood’s side helped him see that he was not the problem and to persevere. But through this experience, Wood learned how to prevent this problem from coming back. He began to implement more of a philosophical and mental approach to his coaching, developing players to be their own leaders and putting an added emphasis on how hard work is the only way to success.

Implemented in the 2013-2014 season, this board shows the effort stats accumulated each game over the season, as a way to evaluate whether or not the team is meeting Wood’s expectations. (Kenneth Manoj photo/AZPreps365)

This mentality coincided with Wood’s evolving basketball philosophy. The 2012-2013 season marked the start of Liberty utilizing the halfcourt press, but with each following year, that press would move further and further up the court. 

Again, Liberty struggled to find consistent success in those first few years employing the high press. And again, Wood could hear the critiques from naysayers, some of whom were parents of his players. But Wood did not waver. Somehow, he knew he was onto something.

Heading into the summer of 2016, Liberty played in a summer basketball tournament that would change the course of the program. During one of the games, Liberty’s Mo Archer got upset with a missed foul call and proceeded to full-court press the opposition. An exhaustive practice, Archer pressed his opponent the full length of the court before forcing him into a turnover.

The Liberty bench jumped and hollered, while Archer raised his hand and asked to be taken out. As Wood described, it was at that moment that he finally saw the true form of basketball he wanted to play.

“That’s what gets my juices flowing. Why can’t we do that all game?” Wood asked. 

This epiphany of Wood is what truly sparked the flame. In 2016-17, the Lions went 13-6, winning the 5A Northwest region, and most importantly, made a cinderella run to the state finals, losing to Sunnyslope. The wins over Arcadia and Sahuaro, both on the road, cemented the notion that this system could work and could succeed. 

In the years since that fateful season, Wood’s full-court press has evolved and matured even more. Their dominant run to an undefeated regional title this past season was marked by everything that Wood preaches: hard work, discipline, and team chemistry. 

Coach Wood participating in his first net-cutting ceremony with Liberty. (Kenneth Manoj photo/AZPreps365)

One of the catalysts for this season’s success was Hall of Fame coach Jerry Conner. After coaching for 39 years, Conner was released from his position at Horizon following the 2020 season. After reconnecting and being handed an open invitation, Conner accepted the role next to Wood on the Liberty bench. 

“We have a lot of similar philosophies on up-tempo basketball and everything, so we naturally gravitated towards each other in that respect,” Conner said. 

Wood credits Conner for encouraging the use of long outlet passes to create more transition opportunities and crafting drills with Wood that can help develop this skill. 

But most importantly, Wood’s decision to invite Conner illustrated the essence of what Wood had learned at Liberty: the key to any success is to have the humility to learn, especially when you think you know it all.

“I came [to Cactus] so cocky, oozing with confidence, with a lack of knowledge, that it just disgusts me looking back,” Wood said.

So while Wood is excited to get started on prepping for next season and is hoping to get back to that state championship final someday soon, he understands that winning the state title is not actually their goal. 

“[People] misunderstand what a goal is. Our goal is our mission, and our mission is to help these guys develop their own integrity,” Wood said. “...it’d be nice to have that [state championship]... but, that’s a destination. It does not determine our success or failure along the way.”