Greg Wright named football coach at Swansea High

Eau Claire’s Greg Wright has been named the football coach at Swansea High.

Wright’s hire was approved Monday night. He replaces Chad Leaphart, who left to become the coach at Gilbert.

“I know Swansea has a strong tradition, with coaches such Doug Bennett and Robert Maddox. And I want to be strong asset and get that back to championship level and represent it in a first-class way,” Wright said.

Wright said Swansea is a close-knit community that takes pride in its athletics, much like when he grew up in Cross. That was one of the reasons he was drawn to the opening.

Wright, who also will be Swansea’s athletics director, spent one season at Eau Claire. The Shamrocks went 3-7 after going winless the previous three seasons. Before coming to Eau Claire, he was co-defensive coordinator at Fairfield Central and part of the Griffins’ two state runner-up squads.

Wright credits FC coach Demetrius Davis, Irmo’s Reggie Kennedy and Jerry Brown as coaching mentors.

Wright was a North-South selection at Cross High before walking on to South Carolina. He eventually earned a scholarship and played mainly on special teams and outside linebacker from 2005-07.

Wright played in Saturday’s Gamecocks’ alumni flag football game at Williams-Brice Stadium

Swansea is coming off a 3-7 season, but made the playoffs the previous five seasons under Leaphart. The Tigers won the school’s first Class 3A region championship in 2004.

Wright will juggle time between EC and Swansea for the rest of the year, but said he hopes to have the Tigers ready for spring practice when it begins on May 2. Offensively, he plans on running a spread, up-tempo offense and a 4-2-5 defense.

“I have watched a lot of film already on Swansea,” Wright said. “We are going to be aggressive and not afraid to challenge teams on defense and offense.”

This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 1:16 PM with the headline "Greg Wright named football coach at Swansea High."