Bio

Although it’s been 20 seasons since he last played as a pro, Coach Wright still looks like he’s ready go. Despite being nearly 60 years old, he’s only 5 pounds over his former playing weight and will still occasionally throw one down on his players. To witness the intensity of his coaching style, which mirrors his former playing style, it’s hard to imagine that he ever wanted to do anything foreign to basketball. However, the quiet spoken former professional basketball player has been a pilot in the U.S. Navy, martial arts instructor, police officer, body guard, teacher, high school principal and as if that wasn’t enough, he seriously considered being a theologian. It is quite the understatement to say that Gerry Wright took a long winding road to become the head coach of the Barstow Vikings in 2013.

Before arriving at Barstow College the men’s basketball team hadn’t won a conference title in 32 years and had only been to the playoffs 4 times in the previous 40 years. That all changed when Coach Wright brought his winning tradition to Barstow. Prior to taking the position at Barstow, in eight years as a head coach, Wright never had a losing season, never missed the playoffs, and never finished worse than 2nd place in conference play. In his 3rd season at Barstow, Coach Wright led the Vikings to a third place finish in conference and in his 4th season, he led them to the school’s first conference title since 1984. Although this level of success was unfamiliar in Barstow, it was nothing new for Wright, a 3-Time Coach of the Year winner. In fact, his success can be traced all the way back to his high school years where he played on a legendary team that only lost three games in his four years of high school Gerry Wright graduated from San Gorgonio High School in San Bernardino, CA in 1982, where he was twice conference MVP, 1st Team All-CIF (All-State) as a junior and CIF Player of the Year and a consensus All-American as a senior. Wright played his freshman year of college at USC where he started for the Trojans and led the PAC 10 in blocked shots. His efforts earned him runner-up Freshman of the Year honors in the PAC 10. After the season Wright transferred to the University of Iowa where he led the Hawkeyes to 3 straight NCAA tournament appearances; this included a trip to the Elite-Eight his senior year.

Following his stellar collegiate career, the 2 time All-Big Ten and Sporting News Magazine Collegiate All-American was drafted by the Detroit Pistons of the NBA. However, professional basketball would have to wait.  Honoring his ROTC commitment, Wright attended the USMC officer training program in Quantico Virginia, after which he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy. Wright served as an instructor of hand-to-hand combat and assistant men’s basketball coach at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. At just 23 years old, Wright was the youngest NCAA Division 1 full-time assistant coach. After serving at the USNA, Wright was reassigned to Pensacola, Florida and Naval Aviator School. The intense training and flying schedule, which has an attrition rate of 85% is usually enough for most people, but not Wright. After being granted special permission from the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Wright was permitted to keep his basketball skills intact by playing professionally for the Pensacola Tornados of the CBA (equivalent to the D League today).  In 1989, Wright was invited to the CBA All-Star weekend and took home the CBA Slam Dunk Championship. That season he led the Tornados to the CBA semi-finals averaging 27 points and 11 rebounds per game in the playoffs.

Sensing it was now time to transition into the next phase of his life; Wright turned down a contract extension and accepted an offer to become the personal trainer for the Royal family of Saudi Arabia. His plan to work 5 years in Saudi Arabia and retire to a life of leisure and travel came to an abrupt end after the 9/11 terrorist attack. As quick at making moves off the court as he was on the court, Wright returned to his old neighborhood to motivate, inspire and teach the kids from his hometown. He is now in his 19th year as an educator for the San Bernardino City Unified School District.

Unlike many coaches that became teachers in order to get an opportunity at a coaching position, Wright is just the opposite. He began his career in education with a desire to teach young people the importance of education and how they may use to improve the quality of their lives. He was later coaxed into becoming a coach. This perhaps accounts for the outstanding academic achievements of his players. In his 15 years as a head coach, Coach Wright has a 100% graduation rate and a 95% matriculation rate of moving players to 4-year universities. Wright has certainly lived up to his personal motto: Don’t talk about, be about it!

On a personal note, Wright speaks Spanish fluently, has written three books, has been a vegetarian for more than 30 years, cooks for a hobby, earned his Master's Degree with academic distinction (3.9 gpa), met his wife while playing professionally in Spain and they’ve been married for 20 years. After the military, Wright was invited to training camp with Atlanta Hawks. Despite an impressive effort, Wright was the final roster cut. However, good luck was just a phone call away. On the other end of the line was Flip Saunders, who before becoming an NBA coaching legend was the head coach of the La Crosse Catbirds of the CBA. That season, Wright picked up where he left off and led La Crosse to the CBA semi-finals. Without another invitation from an NBA, Wright was convinced that his window of opportunity to play professionally had passed. Wright returned home to California and became a police officer; first for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and later for the Santa Monica Police Department. After five years in Law Enforcement, during which time he moonlighted as a bodyguard to the stars and owned / operated a private martial arts studio, he was contacted by the Assistant Athletic Director at the University of Iowa who offered him a position on his staff as the university’s Athletic Recruiting Coordinator. While at the University of Iowa for a second time in his life, he was encouraged by his former coach and mentor, Dr. Tom Davis to give professional basketball another shot, but this time in Europe. It was very good advice. Wright played several years professionally in Europe, lived in 7 different countries and was a 3-time European All-Star. Always one to finish in style, in his final season at 38 years old he was his team’s MVP and MVP of their playoff series.