Jatavia Wright enters her first season as an assistant coach for women's track and field in 2023-24, overseeing the sprinters. She comes to JU after a season at Eastern Kentucky, where she coached sprinters and jumpers.
In her one season with the Colonels, she helped several athletes on both the men's and women's teams achieve conference and national honors, highlighted by an Honorable Mention All-American in the high jump. Other competitors earned multiple podium finishes at the ASUN Outdoor Championships, including a runner-up in the 100m and a bronze in the 4x100m.
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Prior to that, she coached for several years as an assistant, and then the interim head coach, at South Carolina State. While in Orangeburg, she tutored an NCAA Indoor Long Jump All-American, two MEAC Champions and 15 All-Conference performers. She also spent two seasons at Austin Peay, coaching up 16 Ohio Valley Conference All-Conference performances, three NCAA East Regional qualifiers and an OVC Freshman of the Year.
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She was a standout at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, where she was the first female African-American to earn Division I NCAA All-American status for the triple jump in both indoor and outdoor. She still holds four school records. She transferred to Western Kentucky, where she continued her success, earning four Conference USA All-Conference honors, qualifying for the NCAA East Regionals twice and making an appearance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 4x100m. She also played softball for the Hilltoppers as a utility player during her time there.
