An In-Depth Look at the Hiring of Dontae Wright

The Mountaineer football program made a splash on Tuesday after hiring a new outside linebackers coach.

The West Virginia football program announced the hiring of outside linebacker’s coach Dontae Wright on Tuesday following the departure of Al Pogue for Auburn a few weeks prior.

Prior to coming to Morgantown, Wright served as the safeties coach at Western Michigan since February of 2018. Wright led the Broncos safeties, who held opponents to 25.9 points per game and was led by senior Justin Tranquill.

Tranquill led Western Michigan with 83 tackles and a pair of interceptions while junior A.J. Thomas registered 47 stops and six pass breakups under Wright’s leadership.

Before taking the safeties position at Western Michigan, Wright was an assistant coach at Tennessee Tech from 2016 until 2017 while overseeing special teams and defensive ends before being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2017.

Wright also spent three seasons at Morehead State from 2013 until 2015 where he served as defensive coordinator as well as the defensive line, special teams and recruiting coordinator during his stop.

While serving as the defensive coordinator at Morehead State, Wright lowered the team’s total points allowed per game by 18.3 points and also ranked in the top 10 of the FCS for interceptions, turnovers and top 20 for tackles for loss.

Wright’s coaching career also saw him coach at Centre College from 2010 until 2011 where he led the team to an NCAA Division II playoff appearance.

“Dontae is an excellent addition to our coaching staff and comes highly recommended,” WVU head coach Neal Brown said in a statement. “He brings years of defensive experience and has an ability to recruit with success in different areas of the country. I was impressed with his leadership and player development at each of his stops. We are looking forward to Dontae joining the Mountaineer Football program.”

In his playing days, the linebacker started at Miami (Ohio) from 2003 to 2006 and helped the RedHawks to a Mid-American Conference East Division Championship in 2003 as well as the GMAC Bowl and the Independence Bowl in 2004.

The former college linebacker then took his skills to the sideline in his first coaching job as a graduate assistant at Kentucky from 2007 to 2009 as he led the linebackers as well as the defensive line.

Wright brings much needed experience and smarts to the outside linebackers coaching position on the Mountaineers staff.