University of North Carolina Athletics
My Carolina Experience: Mike Fox
November 26, 2014 | Baseball
My Carolina Experience: Mike Fox
By Zoya Johnson, GoHeels.com
In his 17th year as head coach of North Carolina baseball, you may know Mike Fox as one of the most successful, active coaches in the game. What you may not know is that although he has had a love for the game since he started playing at age four, Fox's first love was actually basketball. He grew up watching the Tar Heels on television and that is what sparked his love for Carolina.
Fox played on Eddie Fogler's 1975 and 1976 junior varsity teams and was a letter winner for the baseball team from 1976-1978 as a second baseman. In his senior year Fox helped lead the Tar Heels to the College World Series, and he was named to the CWS All-Tournament team.
After receiving his degree in physical education from Carolina, Fox played independent ball for a year before coming back to UNC as a graduate student to complete his master's in teaching. Fox wasn't sure what was next. “I was a graduate assistant in 1979 and after finishing up that year, I was heading down to Birmingham to learn the construction business. I had applied for a job at Millbrook High School as a teacher and coach and almost the same day they called me.” Fox coached at Millbrook from 1980-1981 before moving onto become the head baseball coach at North Carolina Wesleyan.
“I might not be here if it weren't for my experience with Carolina basketball because I know that Coach (Dean) Smith wrote a letter for me and endorsed me to others,” Fox said. “I'm not even sure I would be coaching anywhere if it had not been for my experience here. Watching Dean Smith and Eddie Fogler and his assistants is really what got the coaching bug in me. Back then some of it was awe but as I watched every minute of every varsity practice and then got into baseball and kept playing here and then had the opportunity to be a graduate assistant, it evolved into wanting to coach.”
Coach Fox feels that his experience truly shaped him as a person and gave him more than he could ever give back. “I met my best friend Clay Johnson here in the fall of 1974, that one thing set the foundation for the rest of my life way outside of coaching. He was a strong Christian and got me involved in Fellowship of Christian Athletes and that really changed me.”
Outside of his friendship with Johnson, Fox also gained mentors who taught him a sense of passion he was able to bring to the game of baseball. Even as a young coach who was bound to make mistakes as he established himself, Fox's passion is what he felt was key in those formative years.
After a successful 15-year run at N.C. Wesleyan that featured eight Division III College World Series appearances and a 1989 NCAA Division III championship, Fox was asked to become the head coach at Carolina. He feels he was able to handle the differences in the two levels of competition thanks to the support he received and the open arms of UNC.
“I had two assistants, Roger Williams and Chad Holbrook, I had (Dick) Baddour, Larry Gallo, and a number of people, including other head coaches at UNC, who really helped me and wanted me to be successful, but more importantly they wanted the program to be successful.
“I learned very quickly here that it is all about the people that surround your program. If you don't have a good support network, if you don't have a group of people that buy in, from your athletic trainers to your nutritionist, to your strength coach, you'll be fighting an uphill battle.”
In Fox's experience the key to pulling the fulfillment out of his Carolina Experience was, and continues to be, a conscious effort not to take it for granted. “You chose UNC for a reason, most might choose it initially for their sport but after you're here and you realize that it's an institution and it's about the education and your degree, that changes everything.
“I probably came here because of Carolina basketball, which might seem silly, but that got me excited and got me here and then the realization of what Carolina is and how it was impacting me changed that so I'm hoping that's the experience of every student here, not just the student-athletes.
Students don't know what lessons they're getting and they won't know until they turn around and look back, but the good thing about coaching this long is that it comes back to you on occasion, often, through a player you thought wasn't grasping anything. All of a sudden you get a call, a letter or a picture and you see their wife and their children and they'll talk about something that they experienced while they were here and it blows you away because you weren't even sure they were listening. Those are the great moments for me personally.”
After 16 years as a head coach and all the players who have gone on to do great things in baseball and out in the world, Fox's Carolina Experience is still shaped by the transformation of those he comes in contact with.
Although many people get to experience Carolina firsthand for four years, few are granted the opportunity to make the experience their livelihood. Even fewer are granted the chance to contribute to that experience and to what continues to make the program so storied.
Coach Fox may feel Carolina has given him more than he could ever repay, but his dedication to the university is something that could never be measured. Coach Fox truly is a Tar Heel for life.
