Being a football coach means more than knowing X’s and O’s. Dontae Wright takes pride in his role as a leader of men.
Wright, now in his second season as a West Virginia assistant, spoke on instilling confidence in players last week, saying that it comes much easier now that he’s spent a year around the program.
“Heck, I came in and was coaching outside [line]backers at first and then whatever happens and I move back to safeties, but it’s been a whole pandemic and I hadn’t spent any time around them,” Wright said. “Now, they finally have gotten to know me and we’ve built a trust and we truly care about each other.”
The safeties room currently sits at an occupancy of around 12 with players of every age group expected to contribute. Seniors Alonzo Addae, Scottie Young and Sean Mahone are expected to trot out to starting positions during Week 1, while newcomers like Davis Mallinger and Caleb Coleman are expected to be involved on the field as well.
Some came to WVU as highly-touted prospects. Others have worked hard to get noticed. As a coach, Wright has noticed that making them comfortable on the field is all the same.
“You have to make sure that they know that you believe in them at all times,” Wright said. “When they know that you believe in them, they believe in themselves even more. It’s not a big issue with guys today to believe in themselves — they have a lot of that already — but they still have the insecurities and doubts that every human does.
“It’s my job as a coach, it’s coach’s job as a head coach to make sure that he instills that belief in all of them and I instill that belief in all of them.”
Being a coach isn’t a foreign experience for Wright, who’s worked in various roles across college football since his playing career ended in 2006. Suffice to say, he’s grown his skill in communicating with his players since then, something he now openly takes pride in.
“Now it makes it easier for those guys to go out and have that confidence because they know I’m not just saying ‘I believe in you,’” Wright said. “They know that I truly, truly do and they can go out and take chances and not worry about me being mad if they make a mistake or miss the play that they’re trying to go do. You push belief into them at all times and, once they have that trust, they’ll go out there and have that confidence.”
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