FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — There is a new head Lumberjack in Flagstaff as Northern Arizona University announced on Sunday that Brian Wright has been hired as the new head football coach.
This comes less than two weeks after NAU decided not to renew the contract of its previous head coach Chris Ball.
Wright, the 31st head football coach in NAU history, joins the Lumberjacks after serving as the head coach at Division II Pittsburg State University in Kansas. Wright had been the Gorillas' head coach since December 2019.
Wright went 33-8 in his career at Pittsburg State and won back-to-back Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) championships and he was named the 2022 MIAA Coach of the Year. He made two Division II playoff appearances with the Gorillas.
"My family and I are extremely excited to join the Northern Arizona football family and Lumberjack community," Wright said in an article on the NAU Athletics website. "We can't wait to begin connecting with the team and starting the process towards building a proud championship football program at NAU."
NAU had been conducting a nationwide search for their new head coach since separating from Ball on November 20. Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Mike Marlow said Wright stood out immediately.
"Brian Wright was a targeted candidate who quickly became our top choice as NAU's head football coach," Marlow said. "His track record of success as both a head coach and offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach is impressive, and we are eager for his experience to translate to success at NAU."
Before coaching at Pittsburg State, Wright was the Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach at Toledo from 2016-19. He led the top offense in the Mid-American Conference in 2017 and was named a nominee for the Broyles Award, which is given annually to the top assistant coach in college football.
Previous to that, Wright coached at Florida Atlantic (including a stint as their interim head coach in 2013), Montana State, Youngstown State and Walsh University.
Wright played college football at the College of Wooster in Ohio. He and his wife Laura have three kids, Jake, Marielle and Joseph.
Wright will be officially introduced at a press conference in the Parsons Auditorium Student-Athlete High Performance Center on Thursday, December 7 at noon. It will be streamed live on nauathletics.com/watch.
Arizona sports
The city of Phoenix is home to five major professional sports league teams; The NFL's Arizona Cardinals, NBA's Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks and NHL's Arizona Coyotes.
The Cardinals have made the State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers also play at the Footprint. Phoenix has a soccer team with the USL's Phoenix Rising FC.
The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events on a yearly basis, including college football's Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the Waste Management Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall; and Cactus League Spring Training.
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