Angelo State head men’s basketball coach Cinco Boone has announced the hiring of Chris Wright as assistant coach.
“Chris is a very genuine, hard-working coach who fits the mold of exactly what we were searching for in an assistant coach,” commented Boone. “He has successful head coaching experience at the Division II level in terms of winning games but even more importantly he is a coach who is invested in helping our student-athletes in every aspect of their lives. Coach Wright has 18 former student-athletes who are playing professional basketball, he has graduated a high percentage of his athletes who have been under his tutelage, and he has great recruiting connections across the country. Combine these qualities with the fact that he is a top-notch person, he will no doubt make a big impact on our student-athletes on a daily basis.”
Wright comes to Angelo State with a wealth of coaching experience after spending the 2015-2016 season as the head coach at Graceland University. He was able to engineer an 11 game improvement of the school’s previous six win season and guided the Yellowjackets to their second winning season in the past 21 years. The team was also able to advance to the Heart of America Conference semifinals and won six games against Top 25 opponents.
In 2014-2015, he served as assistant coach at Arkansas Tech University in which he helped the Wonderboys to an 18 win season, a Great American Conference Tournament Championship, and a trip to the NCAA Division II National Tournament.
Prior to arriving at Arkansas Tech, Wright spent four seasons as the head coach at Fresno Pacific University where he posted an overall record of 67-52. He led the team to a pair of 20 win seasons and a second place finish in the Pacific West Conference. The Sunbirds led the conference in scoring with 89 points per game and won 14 out of their final 15 final regular season games.
Before becoming the head coach at Fresno Pacific, he spent four seasons as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator at FPU before being promoted to associate head coach in 2008. The Sunbirds were ranked within the Top 25 in three seasons and won the 2008-2009 GSAC title. FPU set a school record with 26 wins and was ranked in the top five nationally. The Sunbirds followed it up with by winning 25 games and advanced to the Sweet 16 the following year. During his tenure in Fresno, he coached 10 All-Americans and 15 All-Conference players. A total of 16 players played professionally overseas, including James Lewis who was the program’s first ever NBA D-League draftee. Wright helped the program average 20 wins per season and was a part of five of the top seasons in the program’s history.
Prior to Fresno, Wright served on staff during the 2005-06 season at NCAA Division I Texas State University under head coach and former NBA player Dennis Nutt. He also worked from 2003-2005 as an assistant at Division II St. Edward’s University in Austin, under coach Ryan Marks.
Wright also served as an assistant at Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, Texas.
Wright is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Learning and Development. He also holds a Master of Arts in Kinesiology from Fresno Pacific.
http://www.angelosports.com/news/2016/5/10/wright-joins-asu-mens-basketball-staff.aspx
Photo Courtesy Angelo State Athletics
