Be Like Mike

After basketball practices in the winter, Assistant Boys Basketball Coach Michael Wright ’81 would voluntarily stay late to throw batting practice for the baseball team. Each morning, as he passed by his colleague Shaquille Brown-Butler’s office in Admissions, he’d knock on her door and hold out his hand for a fist bump. She might remind him, half-joking and half-serious, that he was still committed to teaching students the Electric Slide for the upcoming Black History Month celebration. 

Every day, he took time to connect with students and faculty along the walkway, offering each person his full attention and making them feel like the most important person in the world. 

Wright was a fixture at Kent, and when he passed away unexpectedly on February 17 at Sharon Hospital, he left a void on campus. As news of his passing began to spread, so did the outpouring of grief. Wright, 63, was the Associate Director of Admissions, Assistant Football Coach, Assistant Boys Varsity Basketball Coach, Head Varsity Baseball Coach, advisor, alum, and friend to generations of Kent families. To many, he was the soul of Kent. 

“Michael touched the lives of so many, offering his warmth, kindness, and unwavering support to prospective families, students, athletes, and colleagues alike,” said Head of School Michael G. Hirschfeld. “He had the unique ability to make everyone feel valued.” 

Tim McCarthy, Boys Basketball Head Coach, Assistant Football Coach, and English Faculty, got to know Wright on the sidelines. Wright reflected a rare kind of grace—physical, emotional, and moral—and McCarthy was deeply moved by both his coaching style and his approach to life. “Mike was graceful in the way he acted and the way he moved, and in how he built connections around campus,” McCarthy said. “He was the most genuine person I’ve ever met. He wasn’t fake in any way. He would literally give you the shirt off his back.” 

Each person who interacted with Wright has a story about how his wisdom and guidance have impacted their own lives. Brown-Butler recalled interviewing at Kent in 2023. On her way out to the parking lot, she met Wright for the first time, and they ended up talking for two hours. “As a Black woman applying to work at Kent, that conversation meant a lot to me,” she said. “I knew that if I got the job, I’d have a friend in the office, just based on how authentic, real, and valuable that moment was. Mike felt like a warm father figure, someone who was willing to be vulnerable and authentic, to ask about my life and share about his own.” 

Indeed, Wright’s upbringing hadn’t been easy. He was born on July 4, 1961, in Aiken, South Carolina, to the late Hayward Mosely and Victoria Wright of Warrenville, South Carolina, but he was raised by his great-grandparents and extended family members. 

He arrived at Kent as a young man seeking stability and direction, and he found a lifelong home. In a tribute speech about Wright, McCarthy said, “He had been bouncing around from college football team to college football team, living with an assistant coach, which is not exactly a great lifestyle for a young kid. And then he found Kent, and it really changed his life. He came to understand, I think, what home feels like. He felt an immediate connection with the people here, especially his coaches.” 

Peter W. Bragdon, Director of Admissions at Kent from 1970 to 1983, recalled meeting Wright. “His uncle told me that he was traveling too much for West Point football to care for him, so we at Kent School adopted Mike. He grew through five years of perseverance, always offering a smile to the world, no matter what challenges were burdening him. No person offered more constant love than Michael; just greeting him was a joy. He is the most beautiful person who ever became a member of the Kent School family.” 

Wright excelled athletically at Kent on the varsity football, basketball, and baseball teams, and his talent and sportsmanship earned him a place in the inaugural class of the Kent School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001. At Commencement, he was honored with the Columbia Cup. After Kent, he earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University and went on to teach and coach at other private schools before returning to Kent in 2021. He and his wife, Sherry, lived in North Dorm, and he had five children. 

To those who worked alongside him, Wright was a model of humility and consistency. “Michael was a beloved member of our Admissions team and a one-in-a-million friend,” said Amy Ober, Kent’s Director of Admissions. “He had a heart of gold and would give anything he had to others. He was the most humble, modest, and selfless person one could ever have the privilege to meet. He truly embodied Kent’s motto—Simplicity of Life, Directness of Purpose, and Self-Reliance—and lived it every day.” 

Wright brought the same heart to the athletic fields and courts of Kent. “As a coach, everything just came so naturally to him,” McCarthy said. “He wasn’t a loud coach. He just brought a ton of energy and had great relationships with each of the players he coached. It was all in this quiet, subtle way.”

In his role as a student advisor, Wright formed deep, enduring relationships with students. Morgan Johnson ’25, who wrote a song about Wright after his passing, put it best: “Mr. Wright was not only an amazing advisor and mentor, but the most selfless and kindhearted person I’ve ever met. He had the ability to lighten any room he walked into, and he left that light with his amazing family. His love will forever be remembered by the lives he’s touched, especially mine.” 

Brown-Butler was impressed by the way Wright interacted with students. “The way he talked to kids had this balance—he held very high standards, and he was going to hold you to them,” she said. “But he also understood that you don’t show up on day one already meeting those expectations. So he’d hold your hand and lift you up to where he expected you to be.” 

On April 30, the Kent School community came together for Move in Memory, a day dedicated to honoring Wright’s life, as well as Owen Trivell ’25, a well-loved student who passed away after a courageous battle with cancer. Rooted in remembrance and wellness, the event invited students, faculty, and staff to reflect, connect, and move. 

Beyond that event, Wright’s legacy endures every time people look to his memory as a north star for how to live with purpose and humility. “I think what the students and the rest of the community will take from him, what it means to be like Mike and to do things the way Mike would’ve done them, centers on assuming the best in people,” Brown-Butler said. “He embodied what being at Kent is all about. He led with goodness.”