Utah Tech University Athletics

Justin Wright is in his first season as an assistant coach for Utah Tech women's swimming. He joined the Trailblazers in August 2026 with two seasons of NCAA Division I coaching experience, a 2018 U.S. national title and five years on the USA Swimming National Team as an athlete. 

Wright comes to Utah Tech from UC Santa Barbara, where he spent two seasons as an assistant coach and served as the program's recruiting coordinator in 2025-26. In his first year, the Gauchos swept the women's and men's team titles at the 2025 Big West Championships behind 82 lifetime-best swims and 38 top-three finishes, and were named UCSB Athletics' Team of the Year. 

Over his two seasons with the Gauchos’ program, UCSB swimmers combined for 16 Big West event titles, 17 school records and an NCAA qualifier on the women's side. He also coached at Santa Barbara Swim Club from 2024-26. 

Prior to his time at UCSB, Wright coached at the North Carolina Aquatic Club in Chapel Hill, N.C., from 2020-24, where he also ran the club's masters program his first two years. 

As an athlete, Wright was the 2018 U.S. national champion in the 200-meter butterfly, touching in 1:54.63 to become the seventh-fastest American ever in the event at the time. He finished that season ranked sixth in the world. 

Wright spent five years on the U.S. National Team from 2017-21 and represented the U.S. at the 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, the 2017 World University Games, the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships, the 2018 Short Course World Championships and the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. 

A three-time U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier, he raced professionally for A3 Performance through 2021, training in Tucson, Ariz., and later in Chapel Hill. 

Wright swam collegiately at Arizona from 2014-18 and was a two-time NCAA All-American, two-time Pac-12 runner-up in the 200 butterfly and team captain as a senior. His fifth-place finish at the 2018 NCAA Championships came in a school-record 1:40.16, and he was named Arizona's Male Junior Athlete of the Year in 2017. 

A native of Fresno, Calif., Wright earned his Bachelor's degree in Business Management from Arizona in 2018.