FootballScoop is proud to announce that Jody Wright is the 2016 FootballScoop Player Personnel Director of the Year presented by ProGrass as selected by prior winners.
In two seasons as Alabama's director of player personnel, Wright has helped the Tide win one national title and come within a breath of another while also taking home two of his own national championships -- No. 1 recruiting classes. Alabama signed the consensus top class in Wright's first cycle of 2016 and did so again on Wednesday.
In addition to the requisite work ethic and eye for talent, Wright possesses the ability to identify the type of talent Nick Saban seeks and bring those players into the fold. Working as Saban's right-hand man in recruiting and player personnel, Wright moves in lockstep with the head coach to keep college football's preeminent program humming despite continuous turnover on the roster and in the staff room.
"We are glad to have Jody back on our staff in this role," Saban said upon Wright's hiring. "We thought very highly of him when he was with us before, and when this position became available, he was the first person that came to mind. Jody is extremely well-thought of in the state of Alabama and throughout the southeast when you talk to anyone involved with football at the college or high school level. He is also very organized and has excellent people skills, which make him a great fit for this role."
A Jacksonville State graduate, Wright spent five years on Mississippi State's staff as a graduate assistant and director of football operations, where he earned a Master's degree in 2009, before first joining Saban's staff in 2010 as a graduate assistant and later an offensive analyst. He left Tuscaloosa to become the passing game and recruiting coordinator at Jacksonville State for the 2013 season and as the assistant head coach, running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at UAB for the '14 campaign.
The FootballScoop Coaches of the Year awards presented by ProGrass are the only set of awards that recognize the most outstanding position coaches in college football. The finalists (Chris Bowers [Northwestern], Ryan Gunderson [Nebraska], Mike Dooley, Thad Turnipseed and Jordan Sorrells [Clemson] and Wright) were selected based off of nominations by coaches, athletic directors, and athletic department personnel. The prior winners selected this year's winner.
Previous winners of the Player Personnel Director of the Year award are Tyler Siskey (Alabama, 2013), Mark Pantoni (Ohio State, 2014) and Austin Thomas (LSU, 2015).
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