FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – There are a lot of pressures that come with being a Division I head football coach. Not to mention one who led Northern Arizona to its first 8-win season since 2013 and, oh by the way, its first FCS playoff appearance since 2017. That’s the kind of turnaround that grabs headlines—and rightly so.
For second-year head coach Brian Wright, it was a season of firsts. A top-25 national ranking. A five-game win streak to close the regular season. An undefeated mark at home. A quarterback who blossomed into the Big Sky’s Newcomer of the Year. And that is just scratching the surface of the Wright era in Flagstaff.
But beyond the playbook and press conferences, there’s another side to Wright. The dad. The husband. The friend. The guy who spends his downtime tossing a football with his son or streaming his daughter’s soccer match from the office inside the Walkup Skydome.
And yes, he’s also a guy who can’t quite figure out how to grow squash in Flagstaff.
“I’m really struggling,” Wright laughed. “My first garden season here? I’ve got to figure out the nutrients, elevation, or something. The only thing growing right now is the squash, and even that’s questionable.”
Thankfully for Lumberjack fans, his ability to grow a football program is thriving. And in the middle of it all is quarterback Ty Pennington, who transferred in and immediately made an impact.
“We brought him over and had no doubt he could help us win at this level,” Wright said. “He’s a competitor, built to lead, and I’m excited to see where this year takes him.”
Sources close to the program have confirmed that Pennington has yet to grow squash in Flagstaff, but he can certainly play football.
What truly stands out about Wright isn’t just what he builds on Saturdays, it’s how he stays grounded through family.
His wife, Laura, a former college soccer player, often juggles cross-country trips to catch their daughter Marielle play soccer at Bemidji State or cheer on their son Jake, a quarterback at Mary Hardin-Baylor. Their youngest, Joseph, is still in high school, keeping the Wrights busy with basketball games and weekend shootarounds. Both are also contributors to their respective teams.
It’s not always easy.
“Last year, our bye week lined up just right and I got to see Marielle play at Augustana in Sioux Falls,” Wright said. “And after our season ended, Laura and I flew out to Linfield to see Jake in his next round. Those were the only games I saw them play in person all year.”
More often, it’s a combination of creative scheduling and streaming games from the dome or the Wright home.
“If Laura’s at our game, she’ll have Jake’s game pulled up in my office while watching ours from the window. My daughter plays on Friday and Sunday, so I can catch a little more of hers,” he said. “It’s tough, but we make it work.”
Even with time zones, team meetings, and travel, Wright is clear on one thing: “I am their number one fan even if it’s thousands of miles away.”
That balance—between fatherhood and football—is one he’s intentional about. While he never coached his kids’ youth teams, he made sure they got plenty of reps in the backyard.
“I wanted them to hear other voices, to learn from other people. I coach them at home, sure, but I loved watching them be coached by others and grow through that,” he said. “I just wanted to be Dad in the stands.”
Heading into Year Two in Flagstaff, Wright knows the expectations have grown.
With so much proven production back on both sides of the ball, the Lumberjacks enter 2025 with more than just optimism—they’ve got experience and momentum. Wright calls it a balance of old and new, the kind of depth that makes practices as competitive as Saturdays. Between reigning Big Sky Newcomer of the Year Ty Pennington’s poise at quarterback, a steady one-two punch in the backfield, and a defense that proved it could hold its own against some of the nation’s best, NAU believes last year wasn’t a one-time spark, but the start of something lasting.
“We’ve set the standard,” he said. “Now we want to keep building. There’ll be battles and adversity, but we’ll be ready.”
And maybe, just maybe, the squash will figure itself out, too.
