Jim Fox has been named the 16th head coach in Appalachian State University men’s basketball history, Appalachian State director of athletics Charlie Cobb announced on Tuesday. Fox comes to Appalachian State from Davidson, where he coached for the past 13 seasons, including the last two as associate head coach.
Fox will be introduced during a press conference on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. in the Appalachian Athletics Center (adjacent to Kidd Brewer Stadium). The press conference is open to the public.
“We’re very excited to welcome Coach Fox to the Appalachian family,” Cobb said. “He is well-respected across the country and his winning pedigree speaks for itself. However, what really made him stand out in the search process is his commitment to building a winning men’s basketball program at Appalachian State. App Nation wants a consistent winner in men’s basketball and we believe that Coach Fox is the right choice to not only win but do so with student-athletes that will represent Appalachian the right way on and off the court.”
Fox joined head coach Bob McKillop’s staff at Davidson in 2001 and helped the Wildcats through perhaps the most successful 13-year stint in the program’s celebrated history. With Fox on the bench, Davidson compiled a 288-131 overall record (.687 winning percentage), 10 SoCon regular-season championships and six SoCon Tournament titles. He helped lead the Wildcats to the postseason in 10 of his 13 campaigns, including NCAA Tournament appearances in 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2013. Davidson advanced to the Elite Eight of the 2008 NCAA Tournament with wins over Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin and came within two points of upsetting eventual national-champion Kansas for a berth in the Final Four.
Strong recruiting and player development have been staples of Fox’s college coaching career with student-athletes that he coached at Davidson earning all-America honors five times and all-conference accolades on 29 occasions. He also coached the SoCon Player of the Year seven times and mentored three SoCon Freshmen of the Year.
His most notable pupil was two-time All-American Stephen Curry, who played at Davidson from 2006-09. Curry was the nation’s leading scorer and a consensus first-team All-American in his final collegiate season and is currently an NBA All-Star for the Golden State Warriors. Fox also coached De’Mon Brooks, who earned honorable-mention All-America recognition in 2012 and 2014.
Also, with Fox on staff, Davidson’s NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) has consistently ranked among the best in the SoCon and the nation, with the program’s multi-year APR never dipping below 990 on a scale of 1,000 in the eight available years since the APR was introduced for the 2004-05 academic year. For five of the eight years, Davidson boasted a perfect APR of 1,000.
Prior to joining the collegiate ranks in 2001, Fox began his coaching career with five seasons as associate head coach at St. Dominic High School in Oyster Bay, N.Y. While serving as the program’s associate head coach, he was also the head coach of the school’s freshman program, which he led to a 55-1 record and four-consecutive league championships. He also served as St. Dominic’s athletics director for one year and taught government, economics, criminal justice and psychology at the high school.
In addition to his high-school coaching duties, Fox was head coach and director of the Long Island Lightning AAU Basketball Club. In that capacity, he coached more than 20 future college-basketball student-athletes, including Bob McKillop’s son, Matt, who went on to be a three-year starter at Davidson and is now an assistant coach for the Wildcats.
A native of Levittown, N.Y., Fox, 40, graduated from the State University of New York at Geneseo in 1995 with a B.A. in political science.
“I’m extremely grateful to Chancellor Dr. Ken Peacock, Chancellor-elect Dr. Sheri Noren Everts, the Board of Trustees and Charlie Cobb for the opportunity to lead the Appalachian State men’s basketball program,” Fox said. “In addition, I’d like to thank Coach McKillop and Davidson College, especially the players, for making this dream a reality. Over the past 13 years, I’ve been very fortunate to be a part of an institution with a rich academic and basketball tradition. I look forward to helping restore as well as build a program that achieves excellence in every regard."
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