Illinois State baseball head coach Steve Holm announced the addition of Max Wright to the Redbird coaching staff in August 2024.

Wright joins the Redbirds after a remarkable four-year professional career, reaching as high as the AAA level, in the San Francisco Giants organization. Wright is no stranger to the Missouri Valley Conference as he played from 2017-2021 as a member of the Indiana State baseball program, playing both catcher and outfielder.

"Having competed in the Missouri Valley Conference as a player, I am very familiar with the conference. I played against the Redbirds during my playing career and always had a respect for the Illinois State teams I played against," Wright stated. "I was really drawn to the facilities at ISU, the beautiful campus, and most of all, the quality and character of the other coaches on staff."

As an undergraduate player for the Sycamores, Wright played in 12 games, with four starts, during his first year in 2017. In 2018, he became a mainstay behind the plate for the Sycamores with 45 appearances (44 starts) at catcher. In 2019, Wright became the fourth Sycamore in program history to earn Google Cloud Academic All-American status, the seventh player in program history to earn Academic All-District honors and received MVC First Team Scholar-Athlete honors as well. In his final year, he earned American Baseball Coaches Association Second Team All-Region honors and was an All-MVC First Team selection.