Brown Completes Staff with Hiring of Dontae Wright as OLB Coach

Announced Tuesday afternoon, WVU football head coach Neal Brown has hired Dontae Wright to be the team’s outside linebackers coach.

Wright comes to Morgantown by way of Western Michigan where he served as safeties coach for the last two seasons. With this hiring, Brown has filled all the openings on his staff for the 2020 season.

Wright replaces former OLB coach Al Pogue, who left WVU earlier this month to return to Auburn’s coaching staff.

At WMU Wright coached on a defense that allowed 25.9 points in 2019. The Broncos held six opponents to 200 or fewer passing yards last season. The defense also picked off 13 passes.

Before Western Michigan Wright spent 2016 and 2017 at Tennessee Tech. He coached special teams and defensive ends in 2016 and was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2017.

He spent the previous three seasons (2013-15) at Morehead State, working as defensive coordinator in 2015 and with the defensive line and special teams previously.

In 2010-11 Wright coached at North Alabama and was a graduate assistant at Kentucky in from 2007-09. Wright played four seasons at the University of Miami (Ohio) from 2003-06.

WVU’s main outside linebackers in 2019 were Quondarius Qualls and Dylan Tonkery. Qualls started the first seven games of the season before suffering a season-ending injury. He collected 33 tackles with 2.5 sacks. Tonkery started the final four games of the season, racking up 35 tackles and 1.5 sacks.