Tenarius “Tank” Wright is in his sixth season as the Director of Football Strength and Conditioning in 2026. He was hired by head coach Bret Bielema in January 2021.
Wright has helped elevate Illinois to new expectations in his first five seasons in Champaign, alongside head coach Bret Bielema. The Illini have 37 wins, 23 Big Ten victories, and bowl victories in the 2024 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl and 2025 Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl since Wright's arrival in 2021. Illinois' success has continued to even greater heights over the last two seasons with 19 wins from 2024-25, setting the Illinois record for wins in a two-year period and achieving the first back-to-back 9+-win seasons in program history.
Wright has helped Bielema set the Illinois records for wins in a season (10, 2024), bowl victories coached (3), bowl games coached (2), and wins in a head coach's first five seasons (37). Bielema is the first head coach in Illinois history to win bowl games in back-to-back seasons, as Illinois beat #14 South Carolina in the 2024 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl and #23 Tennessee in the 2025 Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl for the first two victories over SEC opponents in Illinois history. The lllini finished the 2024 season ranked #16 in the nation (AP/Coaches), then finished #25 in 2025 (Coaches).
The Fighting Illini program has enjoyed continued appearances in the AP Top 25, Coaches Polls, and College Football Playoff rankings, three bowl games, three national award finalists, 14 All-Americans, and 12 NFL Draft picks since Wright's arrival. Illinois has had three national award finalists and seven top-100 draft picks during Wright's tenure. Jer'Zhan Newton (2023, Nagurski), Chase Brown (2022, Doak), and Devon Witherspoon (2022, Thorpe) gave Illinois three finalists in National College Football Awards Association awards over a two-year span for the first time since 1994-95, while Illinois was one of five schools with three or more players drafted in the first three rounds in the 2023 and 2024 NFL Drafts, along with Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, and Penn State.
Wright joined the Fighting Illini following seven seasons on strength and conditioning staffs at Arkansas and Michigan and a stint as the defensive line coach at Army West Point during the 2020 season.
In 2020, Wright helped Army lead the nation in total defense and win the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy with victories over Navy and Air Force.
Named one of college football’s rising stars in 2019, Wright made the move to Army after serving as the Associate Director of Football Strength and Conditioning at Michigan for the 2018 and 2019 seasons, when he helped coach and mentor four first-round draft picks, one second-round pick, six third-round draft picks, one fourth-round pick, and 12 picks from the fifth-seventh rounds.
Prior to his time at Michigan, Wright was the Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at his alma mater, Arkansas, from 2014-17, when he worked on Bielema’s staff for the first time. Wright helped Arkansas produce one first-round pick, one second-round pick, two fourth-round picks, and nine picks from the fifth-seventh rounds.
Wright was a standout for the Razorbacks from 2008-12 as a linebacker/defensive end, posting nine quarterback sacks and 20 tackles for loss and serving as team captain as a senior in 2012. He was named SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week after Arkansas’ 47-19 win over Texas A&M at Cowboys Stadium for his three tackles, two TFLs, one sack, and two forced fumbles.
Wright was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before trying out for the Kansas City Chiefs in a rookie mini-camp and spent time with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League before ultimately returning to his alma mater as a member of the strength and conditioning staff.
A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Wright graduated from Arkansas in 2012 with a bachelor’s of science and arts.
