USC assistant Wright hired as Murray State coach
COLUMBIA – South Carolina football tight ends coach Jody Wright has been hired to lead the Murray State program.
Wright joined Shane Beamer’s staff early in 2022 after three years on coaching staffs in the NFL. He started as an offensive assistant coaching running backs with the Cleveland Browns in 2019, then was hired by the New York Giants as a defensive assistant working with linebackers in 2020. He returned to the offensive side to coach running backs for the Giants in 2021.
“There is an unbelievably rich football tradition at Murray State and I cannot think of a better time to take the reins of this program than right now entering the 100th season. We will be relentless in everything that we do and instill a championship mentality into our players, staff and community,” Wright said Wednesday in a school release.
Before the NFL, Wright helped UAB to an 11-win season in 2018 as assistant head coach, run game coordinator and offensive line coach. He spent the previous three years from 2015-17 as director of player personnel at Alabama. The Crimson Tide signed the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation every year of his tenure. It was Wright’s second stint in Tuscaloosa, previously serving as a graduate assistant in 2010 and an offensive analyst from 2011-12.
Wright also spent five seasons at Mississippi State from 2005-09, ascending from graduate assistant to director of football operations. It was there he met a young Beamer serving as the Bulldogs’ recruiting coordinator in 2005 and 2006. At South Carolina, production from Wright’s tight end room was inconsistent but largely underwhelming. Both of the team’s top tight ends entered the transfer portal after the 2022 season, Jaheim Bell for Florida State and Austin Stogner to return to Oklahoma. Bell had his least productive season in three years as a starter with just 231 yards on 25 catches.
Wright helped rebuild the room with three transfers and four freshmen in 2023. Former Arkansas star Trey Knox was the Gamecocks’ No. 2 pass catcher this season with 312 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 37 catches.