Bio

Jack Wright, whose teams have won two NJCAA championships, heads into his sixth season at Gulf Coast having won outright or shared the last four MACCC South titles. His 37-9 record gives him the highest winning percentage (.804) for coaches with more than two seasons in school history. His 37 wins are the third most behind fellow national championship winners George Sekul and Steve Campbell.

Since arriving in 2018, Wright has sent 99 players to four-year schools, including 18 last season. The Bulldogs had two NJCAA All-Americans last year (WR Keymari Odum, K Gabe Showalter), bringing the number under Wright to five. Ten Bulldogs earned All-MACCC South honors.

In 2022, the Bulldogs tied with Jones for the South championship and earned the top seed because they won the regular-season matchup. Pat McQuaide led the country in passing yards (2,730), yards per game (273.0) and touchdowns (24). He also had the second-highest marks in school history in passing yards (2,730), total offense (2,839), completion percentage (64.5) and TD passes (24). His four touchdowns against East Mississippi tied for the fourth-most in a game in MGCCC history. Cam Thomas set a record for the longest run from scrimmage in school history with a 99-yard scamper against EMCC, and Keymari Odum’s 61 catchers were the third most in a season. Odum led the NCAA with 61 catches and 93.9 receiving yards per game and tied for second in TD catches (10).

The 2021 team was part of a three-way tie for the South championship, missing out on the postseason by tiebreaker. Cam Thomas finished third in the country with 119.0 rushing yards per game, and linebacker Mike Smith was named NJCAA All-American. The Bulldogs sent 16 players to the Next Level, including offensive lineman Percy Lewis and defensive back DeCarlos Nicholson to Mississippi State.

The 2020 team went 5-0 playing a division-only regular-season schedule, and its players ranked high on the national leaderboard. Running back Deondre House averaged 143.8 yards per game to lead the country, and quarterback Philip Short ranked second with 255.7 passing yards per game. Wide receiver Jalen Bracey caught passes for 98.2 yards per game, also second in the country. 

The Gulf Coast offense ranked third in total offense (486.0 ypg) and second in passing (285.3). The Regulators allowed just 73.8 yards per game, sixth-best in the country.

Wright brought Gulf Coast its fifth national championship in just his second season, leading the Bulldogs to the 2019 title with a perfect 12-0 season. Wright won the NJCAA Coach of the Year in 2019, as well as the Region 23 and MACJC South versions of the award. Gulf Coast had 11 players make the All-MACJC South team, three make All-Region 23, and two named All-Americans. Safety Jackie Matthews and quarterback Chance Lovertich were named to the NJCAA All-American squad.

The 2019 Gulf Coast team led the country in total defense (191.1 yards per game) and was third in passing defense (128.9 ypg) and fourth in rushing defense (60.9 ypg). The Regulators allowed only 12.3 points per game, second-best in the country. Offensively, the Bulldogs ranked seventh in total offense (440.6 ypg) with a balanced attack that ranked 10th in rushing (202.2 ypg) and 16th in passing (238.4 ypg).

Lovertich was second in the NJCAA in completion percentage (64.5 percent) and fifth in touchdowns (24). He finished his Gulf Coast career 18-0 as a starter and as a freshman helped Gulf Coast lead the MACJC in offense (412.1 yards/game). Lovertich led the nation in quarterback efficiency (184.1), in addition to setting school records for touchdown passes in a game (6) and completion percentage (70.8 percent). The Bulldogs were ninth in the nation in rushing average (5.3 yards/carry) and the defense, which allowed only six touchdown passes all year, ranked fifth in the NJCAA in scoring defense (15.7 points/game).

Wright became the 22nd Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College football coach in December 2017. His Bulldogs went 7-2 in his first season, narrowly missing the playoffs.

Wright came to Gulf Coast with impressive credentials. Wright took over a Northwest Mississippi team that was coming off a 1-8 season and mired in probation and in two years turned it into a national champion. 

The Batesville native arrived at Northwest in 2013 and his 2014 team went 4-6 and made the MACJC playoffs his first season, then lost only one game in 2015 on the way to winning the NJCAA championship with a 66-13 win over Rochester in the Mississippi Bowl. He’ll be looking to become the first coach in NJCAA history to win titles at two different schools.

Wright was named NJCAA and Region 23 Coach of the Year following his championship season, after which he left to become offensive line coach at Southern Miss. Gardner Minshew was his quarterback on the national championship team, and he went on to star at East Carolina before transferring to Washington State and finishing fifth in the 2018 Heisman Trophy voting. 

In Wright’s time in Senatobia, he coached 41 All-MACJC selections, as well as 13 NJCAA All-Region 23 and nine NJCAA All-American honorees.

It was Wright’s second stint at Northwest. He’d been offensive coordinator and quarterback coach from 2008-12 before moving to Holmes to be the offensive line coach.

Wright coached at Millsaps College from 2005-07, where he was offensive line coach, run-game coordinator and strength coach. The Majors had won only two games in 2005 and went on to win back-to-back conference championships in his last two seasons there.

He coached high school football at Grenada, North Delta Academy and Meridian, where his teams had four 1,000-yard rushers in three seasons while improving from 3-8 to 11-2.

Wright has a bachelor’s degree in management information systems and a master’s in business administration. He earned both while playing as a center and deep snapper at Arkansas State University from 1997-2000.

Wright and his wife Terra Pinkard Wright have five children: Emilee, 14; Mason, 12; Ian, 11; Anne Elise, 8; and Sawyer, 7.