{"id":873032,"date":"2026-04-23T20:37:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/873032\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T20:37:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:37:13","slug":"former-nfl-linebacker-takes-over-high-school-football-program-in-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/873032\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NFL Linebacker Takes Over High School Football Program in Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"

A high school football<\/a> program in Oklahoma<\/a> has brought on a former NFL linebacker as its new head football coach.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma Native Kenyatta Wright Will Lead Roland<\/p>\n

Roland Public Schools<\/a> revealed that Kenyatta Wright \u2013 a Vian, Oklahoma native \u2013 is taking over the Rangers\u2019 football program. School officials announced the hiring last Friday.<\/p>\n

Wright replaces Greg Wise, who coached the Rangers for two seasons (2024 and 2025).<\/p>\n

Teaching Discipline, Accountability and Leadership Is Wright’s Goal<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Wright believes football is a powerful platform to teach discipline, accountability, toughness and leadership,\u201d Roland Public Schools noted in a statement<\/a>. \u201cHis programs are built on structure, standards and daily intentional actions, with a focus on developing young men who are prepared to lead in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coach Wright Was an All-State Linebacker at Vian High<\/p>\n

Wright graduated from Vian High School<\/a> in the 1990s. He was an All-State linebacker in 1995 and the District 2A-8 Defensive MVP for the Wolverines. In that season, Vian<\/a> reached the Class 2A quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

According to Touchdown Friday Night<\/a>, Wright had 403 career tackles in his high school career at Vian.<\/p>\n

All-Big 12 Honors Came His Way at Oklahoma State<\/p>\n

Wright went on to play at Oklahoma State for four years. He finished with 260 career tackles, 11 sacks, a fumble recovery and earned two All-Big 12 second team selections.<\/p>\n

From Undrafted Free Agent to a Six-Year NFL Career<\/p>\n

After his time with the Cowboys, Wright signed as an undrafted free agent with the Buffalo Bills in 2000. He played for the Bills and the New York Jets from 2000 to 2005 then retired in 2006.<\/p>\n

In 74 career NFL games, Wright compiled 115 tackles, 1.5 sacks, a pass deflection, a forced fumble and a recovery. Wright had three tackles in two playoff games during the Jets\u2019 postseason run in 2004.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wright was previously the Director of Football Business at Oklahoma State. He also held assistant coaching positions at Vian, Fort Gibson and Muskogee.<\/p>\n

Roland Seeks Its First Winning Season Since 2021<\/p>\n

Roland<\/a> went 2-8 during the 2025 season. Wright takes over a Rangers\u2019 team that last had a winning season in 2021 (6-3 record) and previously made the playoffs in 2015.<\/p>\n

In that 2015 campaign, the Rangers went 11-2 and reached the Class 3A quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThankful for the opportunity to lead Roland Ranger Football,\u201d Wright said in a social media post<\/a>. \u201cThis program will be built on family, community and a shared commitment to doing things the right way. We\u2019re going to develop young men who represent Roland with pride \u2013 on the field, in the classroom and in life forever. It takes all of us, and I\u2019m excited for what we\u2019re going to build together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign Up for High School on SI\u2019s Free Newsletters<\/a>\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A high school football program in Oklahoma has brought on a former NFL linebacker as its new head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7],"class_list":{"0":"post-873032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116455948979053153","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}