TCC Introduces Men’s Basketball Head Coach Clint Wright Sr.
Tidewater Community College introduced the college’s new men’s basketball Head Coach, Clint Wright Sr. to the TCC community and families at an athletics news conference at the Portsmouth Campus Student Center on Wednesday, February 12.
Wright is a Suffolk native and has over a decade of experience coaching at the high school level. He previously coached basketball at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, Nansemond River High School, King’s Fork, and Lakeland High School in Suffolk before joining TCC as the men’s head coach.
Wright is honored to be a part of TCC athletics and this new milestone in the institution’s history, “I’m extremely excited for this opportunity. It’s one that I dare not take for granted. To be a high school coach and now a college coach is something that I’m just simply overjoyed with. I can’t wait to get with the kids at the four campuses to get those guys at the basketball gym and get some training going.”
Coach Wright gave props to his wife, Javonda, along with other family members and friends, for the overwhelming amount of support they have provided him during this career transition.
Chad Smith, TCC Athletic Director, welcomed Wright to the TCC Athletics program and applauded Wright on his most recent coaching success which was around the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wright led Lakeland’s boys’ basketball team to the 2020 3A Region Championship as well as a state championship. The same year, he was selected as the 3A Region Coach of the Year.
Wright is also a former college-athlete, who graduated from Norfolk State University in 1991. He was a team member on the basketball team during the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Tournament Championship in 1990. He also played a huge role for the three South Atlantic Region berths for the Spartans.
Wright remembers his time as a student-athlete and how special it was for his personal and professional growth. He wants to be able to give back and serve as mentor to his student-athletes.
“I want to establish some significant relationships, so they can do anything they want to do when they leave here. As we know, TCC is “From here, go anywhere,” Wright said.
TCC will join the Region 10 conference of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and compete against other two-year colleges in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia starting in the 2025-2026 academic year. TCC will be the largest community college in Virginia to offer competitive athletics.
TCC’s president, Marcia Conston, is excited to have a competitive athletics program added to the college.
“The advantages of an affordable higher education experience coupled with an engaging athletics program are something students in our region deserve. We are eager to see all of the doors that will open for our students and community as a result,” Conston said.
The college’s StormBird mascot was unveiled, embracing and evolving the former STORM identity. The StormBird will make its debut when competition begins this fall. Game schedules, ticket information, and TCC Storm merchandise details will be announced in the coming months.
More information about TCC’s new athletics program is available online at tcc.edu/sports or by following TCC athletics on Instagram at TCCStormSports.