Spencer Wright enters his third season as a member of the FIU coaching staff. Wright works primarily with the Panthers’ backcourt players. In his two seasons at FIU, he helped develop former Panthers Donte McGill and Eric Nottage into two of the top-scoring guards in Conference USA.
Before joining the Panthers, Wright spent the previous seven seasons under Bob Hoffman at Mercer, where he joined the staff in 2008-09, working as an assistant coach. He worked in that capacity for two seasons before being promoted to associate head coach in July 2010.
Wright was side-by-side with Hoffman as the pair presided over the most successful seven-year stretch in program history. Since his arrival at Mercer, the Bears produced a 146-98 record, including a 27-9 season in 2013-14, highlighted by the NCAA Tournament second round upset of No. 6 Duke.
The win over Duke was the latest in a series of high-major victories claimed by Wright’s Mercer teams. In addition to the Blue Devils, the Bears also topped Ole Miss, Seton Hall, Tennessee, Alabama (twice), Florida State, Georgia Tech and Auburn during his time. In his final four years at Mercer, Wright was on the sidelines for March wins in the NCAA, NIT, CIT and CBI Tournaments.
At his previous position with the Rio Grande Vipers of the NBA D-League, Wright worked with NBA first-round draft picks Aaron Brooks, Shannon Brown, C.J. Watson, Steve Novak and Desmon Farmer, as well as second-round pick Cedric Simmons.
Wright also spent five seasons (1999-04) as an assistant on Hoffman’s staff at Texas-Pan American where he served as the recruiting coordinator, coached the Broncs’ perimeter and post players, and was responsible for scheduling games before Hoffman moved on to Oklahoma in 2004.
Wright was responsible for recruiting UTPA’s first All-America honoree in two decades, as well as nine All-Independent performers. During his time in Edinburg, Texas, Wright also helped produce two Independent Defensive Player of the Year award winners.
He tutored Brian Merriweather, who led the nation in three-pointers-per-game while with the Broncs and in 2004 recruited and signed three of the top 40 players in the state of Texas.
Wright remained on Robert Davenport’s staff at UTPA through the 2006 campaign and spent the 2006-07 season as head coach at Potlatch (Idaho) High School where he guided the Loggers to the 2A Central Idaho League regular-season championship.
He played two seasons at Paris (Texas) Junior College, earning All-Texas Eastern Athletic Conference honorable mention following his rookie season and was a TEAC third team all-conference selection in 1991-92.
Wright followed up with success on the hardwood at Central Oklahoma, leading the Lone Star Conference in assists during the 1992-93 campaign, while also leading the team to a conference championship.
His ties to Hoffman stretch back to his playing days as a standout guard for Oklahoma Baptist, where Wright was an All-Sooner Athletic Conference performer in 1994-95.
Wright helped lead Oklahoma Baptist to two NAIA National Tournament appearances, and the Bison concluded the 1993-94 season with a 34-4 record, including a second-place finish at the NAIA National Tournament.Â
Following his graduation from Oklahoma Baptist, Wright was invited to the NBA’s Indiana Pacers free-agent camp in the summer of 1996.
Spencer and his wife Amy are the proud parents of a son, Bryce.
