Central-Phenix City fired her. Now, Hall of Famer Carolyn Wright will coach elsewhere

Three months after she was inexplicably fired from her position as head coach of the Central High School girls basketball team, Carolyn Wright says the administration still hasn’t given her a reason.

Now, she has given Phenix City Schools her resignation as a physical education teacher — to start the next chapter of her Alabama High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame career elsewhere in the state.

Wright confirmed to the Ledger-Enquirer that she has accepted the offer from Montgomery Public Schools to be athletics director and head girls basketball coach at Johnson Abernathy Graetz High School, which was Jefferson Davis High School until the MPS board renamed it in 2022.

In 32 seasons, all at Central, Wright notched a 597-375 record, with 11 area championships and four appearances in the Final Four of the state’s highest classification. She was inducted into the AHSAA Hall of Fame in 2019.

Although she wasn’t ready to stop coaching, Wright said she also wasn’t actively looking for a job elsewhere. But she welcomed the opportunity when someone representing the school known as JAG contacted her.

She begins her new job Friday and will coach the opening day of practice Monday.

“It’s going to feel good – fantastic,” she said. “I’ll get to do what I love doing.”

For now, Wright plans to make the 90-minute commute from her Fortson home, but she can stay with relatives in Montgomery or Tuskegee if she gets tired of the drive.

Another option, Wright said, is to get a “small place” in Montgomery for her and husband, Bobby, who retired in 2021 as Central boys basketball head coach and was inducted into the AHSAA Hall of Fame in 2015, but they still would keep their home in the Columbus area, across the Chattahoochee River from Phenix City.

Phenix City Schools officials have declined or ignored the Ledger-Enquirer’s multiple attempts during the past several months to explain Wright’s firing from her coaching position. For this story, PCS spokeswoman Carol Ann Underwood, Central principal Kerry McDonald and Central athletics director Matt Bell didn’t reply to the L-E’s questions before publication.

Underwood, however, emailed the L-E the following statement from Phenix City Board of Education chairwoman Yolaunda Daniel:

“We thank Mrs. Carolyn Wright for her dedication and commitment to the school district, the community, and for the lasting impact she has had on students over her tenure with Phenix City Schools. We congratulate and wish her well in her future endeavors with Montgomery County Schools.”

The L-E didn’t reach JAG principal Carlos Hammonds for comment.

Coaching issue

The L-E reported in July that Christopher Todd, the father of a Central girls basketball player who’s been on the varsity the past two seasons, said his daughter considers Wright to be a “hard but fair” coach.

The only complaint he had heard about Wright is more about her husband, Bobby, being on the sideline when she was coaching.

Wright told the L-E that her husband had permission from the administration to be her team’s volunteer assistant coach. Sometime in February, then-interim superintendent Darrell Seldon told Wright, “Some folks were complaining about (her husband) coaching too hard,” she said. “… He didn’t explain what he meant.”

For the rest of the season, about six games, Wright’s husband sat behind her instead of on the bench.

The next time she heard from the administration about the coaching of her team, Wright said, was when McDonald, the principal, called to remove her from the position five months later. The only explanation she was given, Wright said, is that “they decided to go in a different direction.”

Legal issue

The Alabama Education Association filed a grievance last year on Wright’s behalf to seek equal pay for Central girls and boys basketball coaching supplements.

Although the AEA’s grievance wasn’t successful, the action sparked a renegotiation for “better terms and conditions” in Wright’s coaching supplement, Thomas “T.C.” Coley Jr., the local AEA representative, told the Ledger-Enquirer in August. “Some of us are concerned this (firing) may have been retaliation for that action last year,” he said.

As a result, the AEA started exploring Wright’s legal options, Coley said. He didn’t reply before publication of this story for an update on Wright’s case, and she referred the L-E’s questions about her case back to him.

Health issue

Also in August, approximately 50 people gathered at Franchise Missionary Baptist Church in Phenix City to show support for Wright and put pressure on the school system’s leadership to publicly explain the surprise firing of this beloved coach.

During that event, Andrea Johnson, associate pastor Kingdom Power Community Church in Columbus, spoke to the audience and said she has been one of Wright’s caregivers through her health struggles since May 2022.

Wright went on medical leave in February before returning in August to her position as a physical education teacher at Central Freshman Academy to start this school year.

Her autoimmune disease caused liver failure and fluid buildup that led to weight gain of 20-30 pounds, Johnson said. Shortness of breath, fatigue and depression followed, she said.

Despite frequently traveling to Birmingham for doctor appointments, Wright continued to coach and teach, Johnson said.

As she waited for a liver transplant, Wright was diagnosed with liver cancer, Johnson said. An ablation shrunk the tumor enough for Wright to be put back on the transplant list, but then she was diagnosed with breast cancer, Johnson said.

A lumpectomy and radiation treatments enabled Wright to again return to the transplant list, Johnson said. A week after her team lost in the Sweet 16 of the state tournament, Johnson said, Wright got a call informing her that a donated liver was available for her.

While she recovered from her transplant surgery, Johnson said, Wright stayed in touch with her players, contacted college coaches to get her players scholarships and arranged for transportation to help her players attend basketball camps.

Grateful for another opportunity

Wright calls this opportunity to coach again a Godsend.

“I know the power of prayer, even with my health, I always prayed to God to heal me,” she said. “… I did the same thing for this situation. When it presented itself to me, I just prayed, ‘Lord, I don’t know how you’re going to fix this, but I know you will.’”

JAG’s girls basketball team went 1-11 last season, including a loss to Central, which went 18-12, but they aren’t scheduled to play each other this season.

“They were young, but I saw the fight they had in them, the tenacity,” Wright said about JAG. “… They needed somebody to rebuild their program. Somebody recommended me, then I, in turn, sent my application. They called me for an interview, and the board approved me (Tuesday) night.”

Wright has enough years in the state system to retire, but she seeks a different ending to her career.

“I want to finish the drill,” she said. “… For me, that’s to retire with a clean slate and understanding that this lady can still coach. Somebody thinks enough of her to finish her career and let her get to 600 wins and be able to build a program that’s down.”

This transition is bittersweet for Wright.

“I leave Central High School with a sadness because I love it so much,” she said. “I have Central, Phenix City Schools and the community of Phenix City tattooed on my heart. … I love what I did, and I am glad the community gave me the opportunity to do it in the style that I did it in.

“Now, are there some bad apples in a good system? There are, but I don’t let those people get to me and stop me from doing what I need to do. … We will still support Central High School. We will still support the community. I’m going to root for Central High School in every endeavor until they meet up with JAG.”