Aundrey Wright Position: Director of Basketball Operations Birthdate: 10/02/1972 Experience: 2nd year at SIU Alma Mater: Southern Illinois (1997)

Updated October 15, 2008

Aundrey Wright begins his second year on the staff as the team's director of basketball operations. Wright is a 1997 SIU grad, who has worked his way up the coaching ladder during the past decade.

He began his career as an assistant coach at Carbondale High School (1994-97) and has since served as an assistant at St. Louis Community College-Meramec (1997-2000), Erskine College (2000-01), California University of PA (2001-02), Georgia College & State University (2002-03) and most recently at Missouri Southern State (2003-07).

Wright has handled all facets of a program, including game and practice coaching, recruiting, scouting, community relations, pre-season conditioning, summer camps, scheduling and marketing.

"He's done all the little things," Lowery said. "You have to respect that. He's had chances to go other places, but he wants to stay here and focus on why we're successful and really understand our philosophy."

At SIU, Wright is primarily in charge of handling travel arrangements and overseeing the business aspects of the program.

Wright earned a bachelor's degree in health education from SIU in 1997 and a master's of education from University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2000. He and his wife, Tamra, have an infant son, Austin.