Monica Wright joined the UIW women’s basketball program as Director of Student-Athlete Development in 2017.
A professional basketball player, Wright was selected second overall by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2010 WNBA Draft. She won a pair of WNBA championships with the Lynx in 2011 and in 2013.
Wright was traded to the Seattle Storm in July of 2015, where she was able to play for her longtime mentor and fellow University of Virginia grad, Jenny Boucek. During the 2015 season she was voted by her peers to serve as Secretary-Treasurer for the Women’s National Basketball Player’s Association, where she was responsible for monitoring financial reporting in strict compliance with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Wright played collegiately for Debbie Ryan at Virginia. In her freshman campaign Wright was named the ACC Rookie of the Year. Over the 2007-08 season she earned ACC All-Defensive Team honors and notched her 1000th point. As a junior, Wright was named to the All-ACC Defensive Team and landed a spot on the All-ACC First Team as the league's top scorer. During her senior season, Wright was named ACC Player of the Year, ACC Defensive Player of the Year and National Defensive Player of the Year. She graduated from Virginia in 2010 with a degree in Sociology.
Wright’s parents, Garry and Lynette Wright, are both retired Air Force veterans that served in several different countries before settling in San Antonio. Monica has one older brother, Gerard, who attended Texas A&M University under a cross country scholarship. Her journey with sports began at a very early age, mainly stemming from looking up to her big brother, who was heavily involved in football, baseball and track. As a child, Wright was an avid soccer player and later began to run competitively for a track club in Stafford, Va. She started playing AAU basketball by age 10 and quickly excelled in the sport.
Wright is a strong advocate of women and girls health and served as an ambassador for womenshealth.gov and girlshealth.gov for several years. She has hosted basketball camps for children in her hometown of Woodbridge, Va. and the Queen Louise Orphanage in St. Croix, Virgin Islands (US). Wright is passionate about giving back to all communities, and is affiliated with Samaritan’s Feet, where she takes part in fundraising to donate shoes to less fortunate children in Zimbabwe.
