- Video shows Coby Wright coaching, CSUB wrestlers, and the 1996 NCAA Division I 3rd place championship trophy
- Coby Wright, a former wrestler for CSUB, makes his return to campus as an assistant coach with hopes to impact the lives of young men like his former coaches impacted him.
Wrestlers have made history on the practice mat at Cal State Bakersfield over the years, including CSUB’s new assistant coach Coby Wright.
For most guys on the wrestling mat, it’s hand to hand combat.
“There’s something about it that really brings you close together. It’s hand to hand combat with the oldest sport in the world. It’s… I don’t know, I love wrestling,” Wright laughed.
But for Coach Coby Wright, it’s heart to heart.
“The relationships I’ve developed through wrestling have carried me through any diversity in life,” Wright said.
Quite literally the underdog, Wright wrestled at Bakersfield High School at 70 pounds – close to 30 pounds under the smallest weight class his freshman year but eventually took the state championship as a senior at 103 pounds.
He walked on the Cal State Bakersfield wrestling team and struggled to balance the challenges of classwork with competitions against top athletes.
“It’s distressing because you’re like I can barely get through school, wrestling's hard,” he remembered.
Wright says working with his coaches changed everything.
“My sophomore year about halfway through is when I started buying into what the coaches are saying,” he said.
Wright’s assistant coach Darryl Pope remembers seeing Wright lose two matches at the Fullerton Open, knocking him down to sixth place.
“I said no, here at Fullerton they only wrestle to the top 4 places, so you’re done and he starts, he gets all choked up." Pope said. "He gets all teary eyed, and he just starts crying, just boo hoo balling like a big old baby.”
In that moment, Pope realized how much Wright hated to lose.
“I just gave him that special attention because I knew the desire he had to win, so I made sure he was doing all the things necessary to get better,” Pope said.
Wright partnered with Coach Pope to work harder than his competitors, and it paid off.
He ended up becoming a two time Academic All American and two time All American on the 1996 team that took third place in the NCAA Division I Championships, and he hopes to bring Cal State wrestling back to that level with CSUB's head coach Luke Smith.
“He’s that example of that where some of these guys feel the same way," Smith said. "They have that same chip on their shoulder and they’re trying to prove to everyone, hey you messed up.”
Just over a month in the position, Wright has already taken a hands on approach, trying to build relationships with each athlete like freshman Hayden Zinkin.
“First day, coaches try to sit back and kind of feel out the room but not him, he was right in trying to help me,” Zinkin said.
And Zinkin isn’t the only athlete wright is looking out for.
“I have 30 kids now to take care of,” Wright said.
All with hopes to make a difference in each of their lives.
“The relationship I had with my coaches here is what’s bringing me back here so I can have that relationship with them,” Wright hoped.
The CSUB Men's wrestling team will compete in their first matches in the Menlo Open the first week of November.
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