University of North Carolina Athletics
Mike Fox Takes Over Tar Heel Baseball
June 21, 1999 | Baseball
November 17, 1998
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- With the hiring of head coach Mike Fox, the University of North Carolina baseball program embarked on a new era.
On May 7, 1998, UNC Athletic Director Dick Baddour named the former Tar Heel player and North Carolina Wesleyan College head coach and athletic director as the next head coach of the UNC baseball program.
"It's an honor and a privilege to designate Mike Fox as the new head baseball coach at the University of North Carolina," Baddour said as he announced Foxs hiring. "In Mike Fox I strongly believe that we have the right fit for the University of North Carolina. He's someone who knows this institution very well, who understands our values and our tradition, who is committed to bringing in outstanding student-athletes who are committed to academic and athletic excellence. In Mike we have an established coach who has a strong tradition of winning and of putting together outstanding teams and coaching staffs. I believe that North Carolina baseball is going to do very, very well for a long period of time under his direction."
Fox comes to Carolina after 15 seasons as the head coach at N.C. Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, where he led the Battling Bishops to 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, eight Division III College World Series appearances and the 1989 NCAA Division III national championship. His teams posted 15 consecutive top-20 finishes in the national polls and won 11 Dixie Conference championships.
Foxs career record of 540-141-4 at N.C. Wesleyan ranked second in career winning percentage (.792) among all active Division III head coaches at the time of his return to Carolina.
Fox was a three-year letterwinner at Carolina as a second baseman from 1976-78, helping lead the Tar Heels to the 1978 College World Series. As a senior, he hit .277, tied for the team lead with six home runs and was named to the College World Series All-Tournament team. Fox also played on the Tar Heel junior varsity basketball team under Eddie Fogler in the 1975 and '76 seasons.
The 42-year old native of Asheville, N.C., is a 1978 graduate of Carolina with a degree in Physical Education. He earned his Master of Arts in Teaching at UNC in 1979. Fox served as a graduate assistant at Carolina during the 1979 season and was the head coach at Millbrook High School in Raleigh in 1980 and '81 before taking over as N.C. Wesleyan's head coach in September of 1982. He also has served as the Battling Bishops' athletic director since 1985.
Fox was named the American Baseball Coaches Association Division III National Coach of the Year in 1989 after leading the Battling Bishops to the national title. He has been named the NCAA South Region Coach-of-the-Year and the Dixie Conference Coach-of-the-Year seven times each. He coached 29 All-Americas at N.C. Wesleyan and 92 percent of his players have graduated.
The 1974 graduate of East Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, N.C., played professional baseball for a year after graduating from Carolina before returning to his alma mater as a graduate assistant under Mike Roberts in 1979.
Fox and his wife, Cheryl, have a son, Matthew (12), and a daughter, Morgan (8).
