Jody Wright

Last updated
Jody Wright
Current position
Title Head coach
Team Murray State
Conference MVFC
Record0–0
Biographical details
Born (1981-07-21) July 21, 1981 (age 42)
Playing career
2000–2002 Jacksonville State
Position(s) Running back
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2002–2004 Jacksonville State (SA)
2005 Mississippi State (VC)
2006–2008Mississippi State (GA)
2010 Alabama (GA)
2011–2012Alabama (OA)
2013Jacksonville State (TE/RC/PGC)
2014 UAB (AHC/RC/RB)
2018UAB (AHC/RC/OL)
2019 Cleveland Browns (OA)
2020 New York Giants (DA)
2021New York Giants (OA)
2022–2023 South Carolina (TE)
2024–present Murray State
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
2009 Mississippi State (DFO)
2015–2017 Alabama (DPP)
Head coaching record
Overall0–0

Jody Wright (born July 21, 1981) is an American football coach and former player who is the head coach for the Murray State Racers of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC). He played college football for the Jacksonville State Gamecocks and has coached them, the Mississippi State Bulldogs, Alabama Crimson Tide, UAB Blazers, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants and South Carolina Gamecocks.

Contents

Early life

Wright was born on July 21, 1981, and grew up in Ethelsville, Alabama. [1] He attended Pickens Academy in Carrollton, Alabama, and played football there under his father who was the head coach. [2] He helped them win state championships in 1996, 1998 and 1999 while playing running back; he was named an all-state player in his last two years. [3] Wright attended Jacksonville State University and played running back for the football team starting in 2000. [4] He graduated from the school with a bachelor's degree in 2005. [5] He later received a master's degree from Mississippi State University in 2009. [6]

Coaching career

Wright began his coaching career at Jacksonville State in 2002 as a student assistant. [7] After three seasons in that position, he joined the Mississippi State Bulldogs as a volunteer coach under Sylvester Croom in 2005. [8] [1] He started working with defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson at Mississippi State but quickly was shifted to working with the offense. [8] He worked as a graduate assistant from 2006 to 2008 before moving up to director of football operations. [1] [9]

In 2010, Wright joined the Alabama Crimson Tide as a graduate assistant, then becoming an offensive analyst in 2011 and serving in that role through 2012. [10] He helped the team compile a record of 35–5 in those years while winning two consecutive national championships in 2011 and 2012. [11]

Wright returned to Jacksonville State in 2013, serving that year as their tight ends coach, passing game coordinator and recruiting coordinator while helping them reach the FCS playoffs. [12] The following year, he was the assistant head coach, recruiting coordinator and running backs coach for the UAB Blazers, prior to the team being discontinued in 2015. [13] In 2015, he returned to Alabama and was hired as director of player personnel. [14] He helped them have a record of 41–3 in three years in the position, winning two national championships while helping the team have the top-ranked signing class each year. [15] Wright was selected the 2016 FootballScoop Player Personnel Director of the Year. [16]

In 2018, Wright served as the assistant head coach, recruiting coordinator and offensive line coach for the revived UAB Blazers. [15] He entered the professional ranks by becoming an offensive assistant working with the running backs for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) in 2019. [7] He then joined the New York Giants in 2020 as a defensive assistant working with the linebackers and switched to the running backs the following year. [7] In 2022, he was hired by the South Carolina Gamecocks as tight ends coach. [17]

After two years at South Carolina, Wright was hired as the head coach of the Murray State Racers in 2024. [18]

Head coaching record

YearTeamOverallConferenceStandingBowl/playoffs
Murray State Racers (Missouri Valley Football Conference)(2024–present)
2024 Murray State 0–00–0
Murray State:0–00–0
Total:0–0

Related Research Articles

Mike Shula is an American football coach who is the Offensive Analyst for the South Carolina Gamecocks of the South Eastern Conference (SEC). He played college football as a quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide and was the school's head coach from 2003 to 2006. He was the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996 to 1999, the Carolina Panthers from 2013 to 2017, and the New York Giants from 2018 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UAB Blazers football</span> Football team representing the University of Alabama Birmingham in the sport of collegiate football

The UAB Blazers football team represents the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in the sport of American football. The Blazers compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and American Athletic Conference. The team is led by head coach Trent Dilfer, who was named the program’s 7th head coach on November 30, 2022. Home games were previously held at Legion Field in Birmingham from the 1991 season to the 2020 season. A new stadium, Protective Stadium, has been the home of the Blazers starting from the 2021 season. The new stadium's capacity is over 47,000.

Lester Watson Brown is an American retired college football coach and former player. He was most recently the head football coach at Tennessee Technological University, a position he held from 2007 to 2015. Previously, Brown served as the head coach at Austin Peay State University (1979–1980), the University of Cincinnati (1983), Rice University (1984–1985), Vanderbilt University (1986–1990), and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (1995–2006). He was also the athletic director at Rice from 1984 to 1985 and at UAB from 2002 to 2005. Brown played college football as a quarterback at Vanderbilt. He is the older brother of Mack Brown, the head football coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Claude Neil Callaway is an American college football coach and former player who was most recently the offensive line coach for the Birmingham Stallions of the United Football League (UFL). Callaway served as the head football coach at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) from 2007 to 2011, compiling a record of 18–42. A 1974 graduate of Central High School in Macon, Georgia, he played collegiately at the University of Alabama for coach Bear Bryant as a lineman and linebacker before graduating in 1978.

Les Koenning Jr. is an American football coach. During his career, he has served as offensive coordinator for Duke, Houston, Alabama, Texas A&M, South Alabama, Mississippi State, Texas, UAB, and Kansas. He retired in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Bobo</span> American football player and coach (born 1974)

Robert Michael Bobo is an American college football coach who is currently the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Georgia Bulldogs. He was the head coach of the Colorado State Rams football team from 2015 to 2019.

Wayne Bolt is an American football coach who most recently serving as the defensive coordinator for Troy University. Previously to being named to the position, he served as the Director of Football Relations for Auburn University. Bolt took the job in 2009 upon the urging of head coach Gene Chizik. Prior to joining the Auburn staff, Bolt had previously served as defensive coordinator to Chizik at Iowa State University. Bolt also had previous connections to Auburn, having served as an assistant at the school under head coach Pat Dye.

The 2008 UAB Blazers football team represented the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Blazers' head coach was Neil Callaway, who entered his second year at UAB. They played their home games at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama and competed in the East Division of Conference USA (C-USA). They improved upon a 2–10 record from the 2007 season and finished the 2008 campaign with an overall record of 4–8.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freddie Kitchens</span> American football player and coach (born 1974)

Charles Frederick Kitchens Jr. is an American football coach who is currently the tight ends coach and run game coordinator for the North Carolina Tar Heels. He has served as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns and an assistant coach for the New York Giants, Arizona Cardinals, and Dallas Cowboys of the NFL. He has also spent stints as an assistant coach with Mississippi State, North Texas, LSU and Glenville State of the NCAA. He was fired in 2019 after his lone season as a head coach when his Browns team ended with a 6-10 record.

The Murray State Racers football team represents Murray State University in the sport of American football. The Racers compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division I and the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC).

Casey Woods is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the offensive coordinator and tight ends coach at Southern Methodist University. Woods played wide receiver at the University of Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 Mississippi State Bulldogs football team</span> American college football season

The 2011 Mississippi State Bulldogs football team represented Mississippi State University in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by Dan Mullen, who was in his third season with Mississippi State. The Bulldogs played their home games at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field in Starkville, Mississippi and compete in the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They finished the 2011 season with a 7–6 overall play, 2–6 in SEC play, placing fifth in West Division, and were invited for Music City Bowl, where they defeated Wake Forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 Southeastern Conference football season</span> Sports season

The 2011 Southeastern Conference football season began on Thursday, September 1, 2011 with Kentucky taking on Western Kentucky on ESPNU. The season concluded on January 9, 2012 as the Alabama Crimson Tide shut out LSU Tigers, 21–0 in the Allstate BCS National Championship Game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans to claim their 14th national championship in school history. It was also the final season for the SEC before Texas A&M and Missouri joined the conference from the Big 12 the following season.

Randy Pippin is an American college football coach and former player. He is a senior analyst at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, a position he has held since 2023. Pippin has served as head football coach at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas, from 1993 to 1995, Middle Georgia College, from 1998 to 2000, the University of West Alabama, from 2001 to 2003, and Northwest Mississippi Community College, from 2005 to 2007. He led his 1994 Trinity Valley valley team to an NJCAA National Football Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Clark (American football)</span> American football coach

Bill Bradford Clark is a retired American football coach. He was the head football coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He held the position from 2014 season until June 24, 2022, when he retired because of health issues related to his back.

John Clyde Grass is an American football coach. He is the former head football coach at the Jacksonville State University, a position he held from 2014 until 2021. Grass joined the coaching staff of the Jacksonville State Gamecocks in 2013 as assistant head coach and offensive coordinator under Bill Clark. He previously coached high school football in the state of Alabama for over two decades.

Jim Case is an American college baseball coach who formerly served as head coach of the Jacksonville State Gamecocks baseball team. He held that position from 2002 until his retirement in 2023. He played at Louisiana Tech, earning all-conference honors as a catcher before serving as a student assistant coach for one season while completing his undergraduate degree. He then became an assistant at Mississippi State where he completed a master's degree before moving to UAB. After ten years, he returned to Mississippi State for a second stint before earning his first head coaching job at Jacksonville State.

Mike "Mikie" Miller is an American football coach who is currently the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Charlotte 49ers football team. He was previously the co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach for Maryland Terrapins football team.

Travis Trickett is an American football coach who is currently the offensive coordinator at Coastal Carolina University. He is the former offensive coordinator at the University of South Florida. He has also coordinated offenses at Samford University, Florida Atlantic University, and Georgia State University.

Bryan Ellis is an American football coach who is currently the tight ends coach for the Alabama Crimson Tide football team.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Jody Wright". Mississippi State Bulldogs.
  2. ↑ Boynton, Eric (February 25, 2022). "How new tight ends' coach Jody Wright fits into South Carolina's recruiting approach". The Greenville News .
  3. ↑ "Jody Wright Named Offensive Line, Assistant Head Coach". UAB Blazers. May 2, 2018.
  4. ↑ Potter, Charlie (January 29, 2015). "Jody Wright named Alabama's Director of Player Personnel". 247Sports .[ dead link ]
  5. ↑ "Murray State Names Jody Wright 20th Head Coach of Racer Football". Murray State Racers. January 10, 2024.
  6. ↑ Traina, Patricia (January 21, 2020). "Giants Coaching Updates: Giants Reportedly Add Several New Assistant Coaches". Sports Illustrated .
  7. 1 2 3 Jones, Alex (January 10, 2024). "Jody Wright set to be hired as head coach at Murray State". 247Sports .
  8. 1 2 Portnoy, Ben (March 12, 2023). "How a volunteer job at Mississippi State helped Jody Wright land at South Carolina" . The State .
  9. ↑ Anderson, Reggie (January 10, 2024). "USC tight ends coach expected to be named Murray State head football coach with new Gamecock assistant Coley on the premises". WLTX.
  10. ↑ "Alabama football hires Jody Wright as Director of Player Personnel". AL.com . January 29, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Jody Wright". Alabama Crimson Tide.
  12. ↑ Wells, Adam (January 10, 2024). "Murray State hires Jody Wright as next football coach". WPSD-TV.
  13. ↑ Zenitz, Matt (April 26, 2018). "Alabama staffer expected to be hired by UAB". AL.com .
  14. ↑ Champlin, Drew (January 29, 2015). "Alabama hires former UAB assistant coach Jody Wright as director of player personnel". AL.com .
  15. 1 2 "Jody Wright". South Carolina Gamecocks.
  16. ↑ Barnett, Zach (February 1, 2017). "Jody Wright - FootballScoop 2016 Player Personnel Director of the Year". FootballScoop.com.
  17. ↑ Portnoy, Ben (February 18, 2022). "South Carolina officially hires new tight ends coach. Here are the contract details" . The State .
  18. ↑ Lyon, Andrew (January 10, 2024). "South Carolina TE Coach Jody Wright Expected To Become HC At Murray State". Sports Illustrated .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.