Army West Point Athletics
Rifle
- Title:
- Head Rifle Coach
- Email:
- webster.wright@westpoint.edu
- Phone:
- 4558
Army West Point head coach, Web Wright, heads into his seventh season with the Black Knights. Lt. Col. (Retired) Web Wright III, an Olympian and national champion, was named the Army West Point rifle coach on May 12, 2015.
Wright became the 25th coach in the 87-year history of the program that was established in 1919.
Wright has played an integral role in the Army West Point rifle team since 2012, his first year as the team's Officer Representative. Throughout his time with the Black Knights, rifle has made two NCAA team appearances, seven individual qualifiers and 11 marksmen going on to earn All-America honors. The team also boasts eight victories in the last decade over service academy rival Navy.
In the 2015-2016 season, Wright’s first as head coach, the Black Knights went 5-7, placed fourth in the Great America Rifle Conference tournament and second at the President’s Trophy match. Two Cadets qualified individually for the NCAA Championships - Allysa Gestl in Air Rifle and freshman Nathan Brewer, who placed seventh in Smallbore. Brewer also won the US Junior Olympic Smallbore Rifle title.
In the 2016-2017 season, Army posted a 6-6 record. The team placed fifth overall at the GARC tournament to include a second place in Smallbore. This was the highest place achieved in that discipline since 2012. The Black Knights were runner-up for the second year in a row at the President’s Trophy match. Marvin Lewis, a walk-on, garnered conference honors as a senior earning second team in both Smallbore and combined scoring, as well as an honorable mention in Air Rifle.
The Black Knights posted a 7-8 record in the 2017-18 season, while defeating Navy in the star match and placing second at the President’s Trophy match. Junior Payne Nunn, a walk-on from Virgilina, Va., qualified for the NCAAs in the Air Rifle event.
In the 2018-19 season, Wright and the Black Knights finished 6-7, with a team qualification for the NCAA Championships in Morgantown, WV. In qualifying, the team posted a program record of 4678, which was good enough to qualify at seventh place and finished sixth when all was said and done. Senior Payne Nunn achieved second team All American honors in Air Rifle
The 2019-20 season ended with a 5-5 record. The Black Knights took second place in the President’s Trophy match but failed to defeat Navy. Juniors Clayton Hanson, Jamestown, NY, and Kaitlyn Kutz, Darien, Conn., qualified as individuals for the NCAA Championship - Hanson for Smallbore and Kutz for both rifles - but did not compete as the championship was canceled on the eve before the competition due to the COVID pandemic. In one of the largest qualification showings, seven cadets from the freshman and sophomore classes qualified for the national Junior Olympics, which were unfortunately also canceled.
As the sports world was turned upside down with the 2020-21 season, Wright and Army Rifle finished the season with a 5-3 record for the year, shooting a combination of live and virtual matches. The Black Knights produced some of the highest scores in program history, besting the program record four times throughout the season culminating in the third place GARC finish with an aggregate of 4692. Due to the NCAA qualification formula, Army Rifle was held to just one NCAA individual qualifier. Freshman Kyle Kutz, from Darien, Conn., qualified in Smallbore and went on to finish fourth overall in that event. Army also defeated Navy in the star match and placed second in the President’s Trophy match. Kutz earned Second Team All-American honors in Smallbore with senior Clayton Hanson earning Honorable Mention in Air Rifle.
As an athlete, Wright amassed an impressive list of accolades including competing at the 1988 Olympic in Seoul, South Korea. He earned a gold medal in the 1986 Zurich World Cup and was a bronze medalist in the 1987 Seoul World Cup where he set the World Record in Smallbore kneeling, scoring a 399 out of 400. Wright was also a medalist at the 1987 and 1995 Pan American Games and was a member of the 1994 Gold Medal World Championship 300 Meter Standard Rifle in Tolmezzo, Italy.
Wright was selected as the Rifle Coach for the 2019 World University Games in Naples, Italy and has served on the NCAA Rifle Championship Committee since 2018.
Growing up, Wright was always around the sport. His father, who began teaching him to shoot at age eight, was the head rifle coach at Navy in the 1970s and 80s.
Wright attended West Virginia University where he was a seven-time All-American with five first-team selections. The 1989 graduate led the Mountaineers to three national titles, 1986, 1988 and 1989, and was a two-time NCAA Smallbore champion in 1987 and 1988. He was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame and the Mountaineer Legend Society in 2018.
Wright, who competed with the US Army Marksmanship Unit from 1991 until 1996, served at the tactical, operational and strategic levels throughout his career in the Army. He served two deployments to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and one deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom with the famed 10th Mountain Division.
