Mark Fox Tabbed to Kentucky Men’s Basketball Coaching Staff
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Mark Fox, who has 18 years of collegiate head coaching experience, has joined the Kentucky men’s basketball staff as an associate coach it was announced on Wednesday.
“I can’t believe that I get to work with Mark Fox,” UK head coach Mark Pope said. “Our relationship began at the University of Washington when I was a freshman and ever since then he has been an incredible mentor to me over the years. He even hired me for my first job.
“He is one of the most intelligent and most detailed-oriented coaches in all of college basketball. Mark has coached NBA draft picks. He’s coached teams in the NCAA Tournament. He’s recruited the best players in the country, and he’s dealt with every changing dynamic in college basketball over the last 25 years. Coach Fox is going to be a lynchpin in all that we do at the University of Kentucky. I’m glad to welcome Cindy and their family to Big Blue Nation.”
Fox most recently served as the Director of Student-Athlete Relations and NIL Partnerships at Georgetown University in 2023-24. Prior to that stint, Fox has been a head coach at Nevada, Georgia and California.
“This opportunity is extra special because, not only do I get to work at one of the most traditional basketball powers in the country, but I also get to work with a former player and a former staff member who is like family to me,” Fox said.
Fox and Pope reunite in Lexington, after Fox hired Pope for his first collegiate basketball position. Pope served as the Director of Basketball Operations at Georgia in 2009-10, coincidentally Fox’s first season with the Bulldogs.
Owning a career record of 324-263, Fox has directed teams to four regular-season conference titles, five NCAA Tournament appearances and 10 total postseason appearances during his collegiate coaching tenure.
In his most recent head coaching stint, Fox led the California program for four seasons. Leading up to his tenure with the Bears, Fox compiled a 123-43 record in his five seasons at Nevada and a 163-133 mark at Georgia.
With Nevada, Fox helped the Wolf Pack to four Western Athletic Conference championships, three trips to the NCAA Tournament and a pair of appearances in the College Basketball Invitational. He enjoyed one of the hottest starts for a head coach in Division I history with the Wolf Pack. Fox established what was then a record for highest winning percentage in a coach’s first three seasons (.818, 81-18). He was tabbed the WAC Coach of the Year three straight seasons in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and coached four WAC Players of the Year.
Fox was the head coach at Georgia for nine seasons, with the Bulldogs advancing to two NCAA Tournaments and three National Invitation Tournaments.
Yante Maten was the 2018 Associated Press Southeastern Conference Player of the Year after averaging a league-best 19.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Juwan Parker was tabbed the SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year in the same season. Fox guided 15 players to professional careers, including Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who was drafted No. 8 overall in 2018 and is a two-time NBA Champion. Caldwell-Pope earned the distinction as the first McDonald’s All-American to sign with Georgia in nearly 20 years and he was the 2013 SEC Player of the Year. Furthermore, every senior who played for Fox graduated during his tenure.
The Bulldogs amassed four 20-win seasons, tied for the most by a head coach in school history. Three of those four 20-win seasons came consecutively from 2014-16, making Fox the only Georgia head coach to win at least 20 games three years in a row. From 2014-17, Georgia won a total of 80 games – the second-winningest four-year stretch in program history – and the Bulldogs’ 42 SEC wins and 54 home wins over the span are the most ever at the school.
Fox served as an assistant coach under Trent Johnson at Nevada and helped the Wolf Pack to its first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2004 prior to taking the reins as head coach. Fox was also an assistant to Tom Asbury at Kansas State from 1994-2000 and served as an assistant with Lynn Nance at Washington from 1991-93, where he coached Pope to a Pac-10 Freshman of the Year nod.
Between his stints at Cal and Georgia, Fox spent the fall of 2018 with USA Basketball, serving as an assistant coach to Jeff Van Gundy for the World Cup qualifying team. He also assisted the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Summer League and professional development stints with coaches Brad Stevens, Gregg Popovich and Geno Auriemma, among others.
Fox currently serves on the Junior National Men’s Team Committee with Team USA. That group is responsible for selecting coaches and athletes for USA Basketball college-aged competitions, which include FIBA U19 World Cups, FIBA Americas U18 Championship and the Pan American Games.
He played collegiately at Garden City Community College and lettered two seasons at Eastern New Mexico. Fox earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Eastern New Mexico and a master’s in sport administration/sports psychology from Kansas.
Fox and his wife, Cindy, have two children, Parker and Olivia.
His hiring is contingent on the satisfaction of the University’s pre-employment screenings and other due diligence.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
