SUNY Cortland Athletics

David Wright was one of the nation's top soccer players during his time at Cortland, and for nearly 30 years he has earned that same level of recognition as an athletic administrator and coach at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.
 
The Goshen, N.Y., native played defender for the first half of his Red Dragon career before making the move to forward, yet is still tied for the school career record with 35 goals scored. As a senior in 1981, Wright scored 19 goals and helped Cortland finish 14-1-3. The Red Dragons were undefeated until falling 1-0 in overtime to Glassboro State in the national quarterfinals — a game in which Wright left late in the first half due to injury.
 
Wright was named a first team All-American as well as first team all-state and the SUNYAC Player of the Year in his senior campaign. He was the lone Division III player nominated for the Hermann Trophy, soccer's equivalent to football Heisman's Trophy for the top collegiate player, and was one of 32 players from all divisions chosen to compete in the Senior Soccer Bowl in Oklahoma. As a junior, Wright earned all-state and all-league honors as well as the first of his two Red Letter awards. He also was on teams that finished third nationally in 1978 and advanced to the national quarterfinals in 1979.
 
Wright earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from Cortland in 1982 along with a master's degree from Brigham Young University in 1989 and a doctorate from The George Washington University in 2013. After coaching briefly at BYU and Elmira College, Wright joined Gettysburg in 1986 as head men’s soccer coach. He assumed administrative duties as assistant director of athletics in 1990, associate director of athletics in 1996, and director of athletics in 2002. Wright was promoted to an Assistant Vice President position in 2011.

In all, Wright's soccer teams at Gettysburg were 221-99-26 in 18 seasons with three Centennial Conference championships. His teams appeared in the NCAA tournament in seven of his final 10 seasons. He was named Middle Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year in 1992 and NSCAA Middle Atlantic Region Coach of the Year three times. He also coached men's tennis for eight seasons.