Basketball
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Maryland Basketball Coaching Staff
Last Game
Penn State
Mar 5, 2023
TBA
Next Game
TBA
To Be Announced
Kevin Willard
Head Coach
Willard was named the new head coach of the Maryland Men’s Basketball program as announced by Damon Evans, Barry P. Gossett Director of Athletics, on March 21. Willard recently coached Seton Hall to its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last six events that were played. Having won a regular-season conference championship, conference tournament championship and earning conference coach of the year, Willard is one of 10 active head coaches in the Power 6 conferences to achieve each of the accomplishments in the last six seasons.
In his career as a head coach, his teams have 28 wins over Associated Press Top-25 teams including 18 wins over Top-15 teams, 14 wins over Top-10 teams and six wins over Top-5 teams.
He has been one of the winningest coaches in terms of NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) Quad 1 victories over the last four seasons. He also has the most non-conference wins of any coach in the nation against Big Ten teams since 2014-15.
“We are thrilled to welcome Kevin to the Terrapin family,” said Damon Evans, Barry P. Gossett Director of Athletics. “We are excited about the future of Maryland basketball with Kevin leading the way. Known for his gritty, hard-working teams, Kevin has had tremendous success, winning conference championships and leading his teams to NCAA Tournaments. He has made a habit of scheduling challenging opponents and winning in those games as evidenced by his record against Big Ten teams in recent years. He has familiarity with the region, being a native New Yorker and having spent much of his life in the Northeast corridor. We welcome Kevin, his wife Julie, and their sons Colin and Chase to the Maryland family and we look forward to the next great chapter in Terrapin basketball history.”
“On behalf of the entire University of Maryland community, it is my honor to welcome Coach Kevin Willard and his family to College Park,” said Darryll J. Pines, President of the University of Maryland. “As a leader, coach, mentor, and teacher, Coach Willard is a tremendous choice to lead our men’s basketball program into its next era of distinction.”
“Growing up and coaching in the region, I have always admired the Maryland basketball program and being named the new head coach of one of the biggest brands in college basketball is a tremendous honor,” said Willard. “Thank you to President Pines and Damon Evans for trusting me to reenergize this proud program as we look to galvanize our passionate fanbase with a gritty, hard-working style of basketball. Having coached against Maryland several times and at XFINITY Center, I know how Terp fans feel about their team and understand their expectations. Skill development and a dedication to academic success will be cornerstones of our program and I can promise Terp Nation we will work to make them proud of this basketball team as we build winners on the court and in the classroom. Julie and our boys are excited to join the Terrapin family.”
Willard served as the head coach at Seton Hall from 2010-22 where he helped the Pirates to the 2020 Big East Regular Season Championship and the 2016 Big East Tournament Championship. He coached the Pirates to five NCAA berths and what would have been six in the last seven seasons when you include the COVID-shortened season, when Seton Hall was assured of a berth in the tournament after winning the Big East title in 2020.
His teams have posted .500 or better records in the last nine consecutive seasons. He has a 225-161 overall record at Seton Hall in 12 seasons. He is second all-time in victories (225) in Seton Hall basketball history and has the most wins in conference play in program history (110). He is also the 11th all-time winningest coach in Big East history, dating to the conference’s inception in 1979. Including three seasons as the head coach Iona, Willard’s career record is 270-210.
The past season, Willard led Seton Hall to a 21-11 overall record and an 11-8 mark in conference play. That included wins over No. 4 Michigan and No. 7 Texas as part of six NET Quad 1 victories.
He has claimed prestigious coaching honors including the USBWA District II Coach of the Year in 2020, the NABC District 5 Coach of the Year in 2019, the Peter A. Carlesimo Metropolitan Writers Coach of the Year in 2016, 2017 and 2019 and Big East Coach of the Year in 2016. He was also named one of Forbes Top 10 NCAA Basketball Coaches for the Next 10 Years in 2017. His teams won the prestigious NABC Team Academic Excellence Award for five straight years (2016-20) and earned three NCAA Academic Progress Rate Public Recognition Awards.
With Seton Hall, he posted seven 20-win seasons with six coming in the last seven years. He also finished in the top-four in the Big East on six occasions. In 2018, he led the Pirates to their first victory in an NCAA Tournament since 2004.
His teams at Seton Hall have been ranked in the Top 25 in five of the last eight seasons with a high ranking of No. 8 in the 2019-20 season. This past season the Pirates were ranked as high as No. 15 and spent eight weeks in the polls.
Willard’s Seton Hall teams have posted 26 Quad 1 wins over the last four seasons since the NET tool started being used by the NCAA. The 26 Q1 wins are among the Top 15 among all coaches in the nation since the 2018-19 season.
His teams have also posted an 11-5 record against Big Ten teams over the last eight seasons, which includes wins over Maryland in 2018 and 2019. Willard’s teams also won road games at Michigan, Iowa, Penn State and Rutgers and beat Indiana at home. Willard has the most non-conference wins over Big Ten teams of any coach since 2014-15.
The Pirates have 82 combined wins between the Big East regular-season and postseason, second only to Villanova in the conference since the 2015-16 season.
Willard coached the Big East Player of the Year in two of the last three years in Myles Powell (2020) and Sandro Mamukelashvili (2021). He mentored two of the last five Big East Most Improved Players of the Year in Powell (2018) and Romaro Gill (2020). He coached the Big East Tournament MVP, Isaiah Whitehead (2016); the Big East Defensive Player of the Year, Fuquan Edwin (2014) and Gill (2020); the Big East Rookie of the Year, Angel Delgado (2015) and the Big East Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Michael Nzei (2019) and Ike Obiagu (2021).
Whitehead, Delgado, Powell and Mamukelashvili all earned All-American honors and Consensus First-Team All-Big East honors, and all in the last seven years. All four went on to play in the NBA with Powell playing for the Philadelphia 76ers this season and Mamukelashvili playing for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Powell was Seton Hall’s first Consensus First-Team All-American since 1953. This past season, Jared Rhoden was named to the All-Big East First Team marking the sixth time in seven years that Willard coached a first-team all-conference honoree. Overall, he mentored 15 All-Big East selections and three Big East All-Rookie Team honorees.
Making a huge emphasis on effort in the classroom, Willard’s student-athletes combined for 72 BIG EAST All-Academic team selections, and the program has boasted a perfect single-year academic progress rate in six of the nine NCAA reports since he became head coach as well as perfect multi-year APR scores in 2016 and 2017. The NCAA has also recognized Seton Hall with NCAA APR Public Recognition awards for boasting an APR in the top 10 percent in the country three consecutive years from 2015-17. The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) has given the program the Team Academic Excellence Award five consecutive years from 2016-20 for finishing the academic year with a grade point average above 3.0.
Willard has proven to be a strong evaluator and recruiter of talent, as he brought in a consensus top-15 national recruiting class in 2014, led by Whitehead, the program’s first McDonald’s All-American since 2001 and just the fifth all-time. His 2021-22 recruiting class was also rated in the top 25 by 247Sports.
The 2020-21 season marked Seton Hall and Willard's sixth consecutive top-four finish in the Big East Conference, one of the best basketball conferences in the country. Only Villanova also completed six straight top-four finishes in the same span.
Willard was named head coach of the Seton Hall men's basketball program on March 29, 2010. He became the 19th head coach in Seton Hall history joining the Pirates after three years serving as the head coach at Iona. In 2007, he had inherited a Gaels team that had won just two games the prior season. In his first year at the helm, the Gaels had a 10-win improvement, ranking as one of the top turnarounds in NCAA Div. I. Then in year three in 2009-10, Willard guided Iona to a 21-10 overall record, and he was named MAAC Coach of the Year.
Prior to the start of his career as a head coach, Willard was an assistant and associate head coach for six years at Louisville, where he was mentored by Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Pitino. Willard also credits his father, Ralph, as one of his coaching influences. Ralph Willard enjoyed a successful 19-year run as the head coach at Western Kentucky, Pittsburgh and Holy Cross, winning 336 games and advancing to six NCAA Tournaments.
At Louisville, Willard was responsible for assisting with the Cardinals' game preparations, scouting and preparing game plans. He also served as chief recruiting coordinator. During his tenure, Louisville was ranked in the Top 25 for five seasons and reached the postseason in each of his six years. The squad reached the NCAA Tournament on four occasions including a visit to the 2005 Final Four, the first time in 19 years that the Cardinals had advanced that deep into the postseason. In his six seasons at Louisville, the Cardinals posted a phenomenal 142-58 record averaging nearly 24 wins per season.
Prior to Louisville, Willard worked with Pitino as a coaching associate with the Boston Celtics for four years. His duties with the Celtics included game and practice preparation, scouting and assisting the coaching staff in all facets of basketball operations. He also provided advance scouting, videotape breakdowns and assisted with individual workouts prior to games.
A basketball lifer, Willard played point guard on the Division I level for four years; the last three coming at the University of Pittsburgh. He earned Big East All-Academic honors while appearing in 60 games for the Panthers. He spent his freshman season at Western Kentucky, where he played in the backcourt and sank over 40 percent of his three-point field goal attempts.
Willard hails from New York and was born in Huntington on Long Island, but played his high school basketball at Bowling Green High School (Ky.) while his father was the head coach at Western Kentucky. He earned second-team All-State honors as a senior and helped his team to a combined 76-15 record in his final three prep seasons.
Willard is married to the former Julie Wagner and they have two sons, Colin, who was born in August 2006 and Chase born in June 2008.
Highlights
5 NCAA Tournament Appearances (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020* (COVID), 2022)
2020 Big East Conference Regular-Season Championship
2016 Big East Conference Tournament Championship
2016 Big East Coach of the Year
2020 USBWA District II Coach of the Year
2016, 2017, 2019 Peter A. Carlesimo Met Writers Coach of the Year
2019 NABC District 5 Coach of the Year
2017 Forbes Top 10 NCAA Basketball Coaches For The Next 10 Years
9 Consecutive seasons of .500 or better record
8 20-win seasons
7 Consecutive Top-5 Big East finishes
6 seasons ranked in the AP Top 25
72 All-Big East Academic Team selections
15 All-Big East First-Team selections
4 Haggerty Metropolitan Players of the Year
2 Big East Players of the Year
2 Big East Defensive Players of the Year
2 Big East Most Improved Players of the Year
2 Big East Scholar-Athletes of the Year
Active Head Coaches To Win A Regular-Season Conference Championship, Conference Tournament Championship and Earn Conference Coach of the Year In Power 6 since 2015-16
Dana Altman, Oregon
Rick Barnes, Tennessee
Tony Bennett, Virginia
John Calipari, Kentucky
Tommy Lloyd, Arizona
Nate Oats, Alabama
Bruce Pearl, Auburn
Bill Self, Kansas
Kevin Willard, Seton Hall
Jay Wright, Villanova
Most Non-Conference Wins Against The Big Ten Since 2014-15*
Kevin Willard, Seton Hall 11 (5 on the road)
Greg McDermott, Creighton 10 (4)
Mike Krzyzewski, Duke 9 (3)
Tony Bennett, Virginia 8 (3)
Mike Brey, Notre Dame 8 (1)
Jim Larranaga, Miami 7 (4)
Leonard Hamilton, Florida State 6 (1)
Roy Williams, North Carolina 6 (0)
Bill Self, Kansas 5 (0)
*When Maryland joined the Big Ten
Most NET Quad 1 Wins Since 2018-19*
Bill Self, Kansas 42
Scott Drew, Baylor 39
Greg Gard, Wisconsin 35
Mark Few, Gonzaga 34
Tom Izzo, Michigan State 34
John Calipari, Kentucky 33
Rick Barnes, Tennessee 30
Tony Bennett, Virginia 30
Fran McCaffery, Iowa 28
Jay Wright, Villanova 28
Greg McDermott, Creighton 27
Matt Painter, Purdue 27
Kevin Willard, Seton Hall 26
Mike Krzyzewski, Duke 26
Chris Beard, Texas Tech/Texas 26
Chris Holtmann, Ohio State 26
*When NET was introduced
Wins Over Ranked AP Teams
vs. Top 25: 28 wins
vs. Top 20: 22 wins
vs. Top 15: 18 wins
vs. Top 10: 14 wins
vs. Top 5: 6 wins
Notable Teams Kevin Willard Has Beaten
#3 Villanova in 2014
#3 Villanova in 2016
#4 Michigan in 2021
#5 Xavier in 2016
#5 Butler in 2020
#6 Villanova in 2015
#7 Maryland in 2019
#7 Texas in 2021
#8 UConn in 2012
#9 Kentucky in 2018
#9 Georgetown in 2012
#10 Villanova in 2020
#13 Butler in 2017
#16 South Carolina in 2016
#17 Louisville in 2017
#22 Texas Tech in 2017
Grant Billmeier
Assistant Coach
A member of Kevin Willard’s staff at Seton Hall for 11 seasons, helping lead the Pirates to two Big East Championships, Grant Billmeier joined Willard’s staff on April 5, 2002.
Ranked second in a poll of top assistant coaches in the BIG EAST by his peers in a 2020 Stadium survey, Billmeier was Seton Hall’s associate head coach for the 2021-22 season where they reached the NCAA Tournament and defeated two top-10 teams.
A 2007 graduate of Seton Hall, Billmeier was an assistant coach on Willard’s staff from 2015-21, the Director of Basketball Operations in 2013-14 and the Coordinator of Basketball Operations from 2010-13, with a one year stint as an assistant coach at Fairleigh Dickinson in 2014-15.
“I am excited that Grant will be joining us at Maryland,” said Willard. “I have known and worked with Grant for many years. He has a championship background and experience in developing some of the most skilled bigmen in the country. He has strong recruiting connections in the Northeast and nationally and will help bring some of the best talent to College Park. We welcome, Grant and his family to Maryland.”
“Continuing to work alongside Coach Willard is very special to me,” said Billmeier. “We have won together and built a winning culture together. Being able to do that at Maryland is something I am very excited about. I can’t wait to get started recruiting the newest Terps and helping the players develop into some of the best in the Big Ten and the country.”
Billmeier had a hand in both the 2020 Big East Regular Season Championship and the 2016 Big East Tournament Championships, both the program’s first since 1993. Together, Willard and Billmeier have finished top-four in the Big East on six occasions and have posted 26 Quad 1 wins over the last four seasons. The 26 Q1 wins are among the Top 15 among all teams in the nation since the 2018-19 season.
Known for his work with big men, Billmeier has been instrumental in developing Seton Hall's forwards and centers into leaders in the Big East. The Pirates finished in the top two of the conference in rebounding for three consecutive seasons from 2016-18.
Billmeier helped develop Angel Delgado into one of the top basketball players in the country and a Seton Hall legend, earning the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar National Center of the Year Award in 2018. Delgado led the nation in rebounding at 13.1 per game in 2017, was named All-America honorable mention, the Metropolitan Player of the Year and unanimous All-Big East. Then in 2018, Delgado broke the Big East career rebounds record, averaged a double-double, and posted the NCAA Tournament's first 20-20 game since 2012 (24 points, 23 rebounds vs. Kansas). Billmeier also worked to help Delgado's teammate Ismael Sanogo develop into a starter and one of the best defenders in the Big East.
In 2020, Billmeier helped mold Romaro Gill into one of the most-feared shot blockers in the Big East. After transferring in from a junior college, Gill had a promising junior season that then exploded into one of the most impactful senior years anyone's had in a Pirates uniform. Gill averaged 3.2 blocks per game to finish third in the nation, and he won the Big East's blocks championship by averaging 3.4 rejections per conference contest. To add to his impact, Gill drastically improved his offensive game and was the Big East's field goal percentage champion by making 63.5 percent of his attempts during league play. At season's end, he not only was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year, but he also was named Big East Most Improved.
Billmeier also had a hand in Sandro Mamukelashvili's development from playing only 9.6 minutes per game as a freshman into the 2021 Big East Player of the Year as a senior. A 6-11 power forward with great shooting and passing abilities, Mamukelashvili worked hard with Billmeier to become one of the conference's top threats. In 2020-21, Mamukelashvili was one of only two players in the Big East to rank in the league's top-five in scoring and rebounding and top-15 in scoring, rebounding and assists. In addition to being named the conference player of the year, Mamukelashvili was the 2021 Haggerty Award Metropolitan Player of the Year, All-America honorable mention and a finalist for the Karl Malone National Power Forward of the Year Award.
Including his two NCAA Tournament appearances as a student-athlete in 2004 and 2006, Billmeier represented Seton Hall in six NCAA Tournament bids, tying former head coach P.J. Carlesimo and assistant coaches Bruce Hamburger and Tom Sullivan for most NCAA Tournament appearances while either playing and/or coaching at Seton Hall.
During Billmeier's first stint on Willard's coaching staff, his primary roles included serving as the academics liaison and the daily and monthly scheduling of practice times, lifting schedules and team meals. He also coordinated with local hospitals, foundations and soup kitchens to bring student-athletes out to the community.
As a player for Seton Hall, Billmeier was a four-year letterwinner and two-year captain for the Pirates from 2003-07, playing in 106 career games and helping the program reach the NCAA Tournament twice in 2004 and '06 and a first-round win over Arizona in '04. He was the recipient of the Robin Cunningham Award for having the best academic success on the team.
A native of Pennington, N.J. and graduate of St. Patrick High School, Billmeier previously was an assistant coach at his alma mater under head coach Kevin Boyle. At St. Patrick, he helped the school win the 2003 New Jersey Tournament of Champions. After graduating from Seton Hall, Billmeier played professionally in Germany and Portugal and started his own basketball summer camp, the Billmeier and Nardi Skills Camp, alongside former St. Patrick teammate and Villanova guard Mike Nardi.
Billmeier and his wife, Jennifer, were married in May 2017 and are parents to their daughter, Avery, born March 2018, and son, Luke, born June 2021.
Tony Skinn
Assistant Coach
A Takoma Park, Maryland native with deep DMV ties and Big Ten and Big East coaching experience, Tony Skinn joined Kevin Willard’s staff on March 22, 2022.
Skinn comes to Maryland after one season at Ohio State. An 11-year coaching veteran known for his recruiting, especially in the DMV area, and player development, Skinn worked with Willard from 2018-21 at Seton Hall where the Pirates won 55 games over a three-year span including the 2020 Big East Regular Season Championship.
“Tony is a perfect fit to join our staff here at Maryland,” said Willard. “He’s a Maryland guy. A DMV guy. He grew up here, played here, coached here and is as connected to the area as any coach. He’s a great friend and we enjoyed great success at Seton Hall. He knows the Big Ten and has developed some of the most talented young players in the nation. I’m so excited to welcome him and his family home to Maryland.”
“Coming back home to work at Maryland, a school I grew up just miles away from, is a dream come true for me,” said Skinn. “Coach Willard is going to build something very special at Maryland. I can’t wait to get out and recruit the best kids in the DMV and around the country and help them develop into stars for the Terps. Our family is thrilled to be coming home.”
This past season at Ohio State, Skinn worked closely with freshman guard Malaki Branham, who earned Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. Branham averaged 13.7 points and 3.6 rebounds per game while shooting over 49 percent from the floor. He was one of just five freshmen nationally and one of only two from a Power 5 school to have multiple 30-point games this season, and both of his came on the road. Skinn was also in charge of scouting personnel.
Skinn and the Buckeyes won 20 games and advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.
At Seton Hall, Skinn coached the guards and helped Quincy McKnight become one of the best point guards in the Big East. He also played an influential role in the development of Myles Powell who was the 2020 Big East Player of the Year. Skinn was part of the Pirates' fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance in 2019 which was a program record. The Pirates also won a BIG EAST regular-season title in 2020 and were on track for another NCAA Tournament bid.
Prior to joining Seton Hall, Skinn’s had a three-year successful run as an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech, as the Bulldogs won 63 games during his tenure, including back-to-back 23-win seasons and a pair of top-four finishes in Conference USA. In three seasons with Skinn’s aid, Louisiana Tech student-athletes garnered five All-Conference USA selections and three Conference USA All-Freshmen picks. Skinn was instrumental in the development of point guard DaQuan Bracey, who set a Louisiana Tech and Conference USA record for most assists by a rookie (193) in 2016-17 en route to Conference USA Freshman of the Year honors. Bracey also finished the season with the sixth-best assist/turnover ratio in the country at 3.51.
Skinn worked in the DMV area for four years prior to his collegiate coaching start. He served as the director of athletics at the Paul International High School in Washington, D.C., and was an assistant coach for NIKE Team Takeover, one of the premier AAU programs in the country. While working for NIKE Team Takeover, he helped recruit and develop student-athletes who went on to earn Division I college scholarships.
Having grown up less than 10 minutes from Maryland’s campus, Skinn played
college basketball at George Mason, where he was a 1,000-point scorer and two-time All-CAA selection. His nine steals against Northeastern on Jan. 19, 2006, set a George Mason and CAA conference record that still stands today.
Skinn and his George Mason teammates were the top college basketball story in 2006 when the Patriots earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 11 seed and upset No. 6 seed Michigan State, No. 3 seed North Carolina, No. 7 seed Wichita State and No. 1 seed Connecticut en route to the NCAA Final Four. The March Madness run was deemed one of the most improbable and unexpected performances in college basketball history.
After making history at George Mason, Skinn went on to play professionally in Europe for many years, including three in France. In 2012, he was a member of the Nigerian national team that qualified for the Olympics in London by finishing third at the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Caracas, Venezuela. He averaged 10 points a game during the tournament as Nigeria upset Greece in the quarterfinals, lost to Russia in the semifinals but then topped the Dominican Republic to earn the final Olympic qualifying berth. In London, Skinn and Nigeria won their first Olympic preliminary round game, defeating Tunisia, 60-56, before finishing 10th in the tournament.
Tony and his wife Weyni have three children, Isaiah, Liam and Noelle.
David Cox
Assistant Coach
A Landover, Maryland native with head coaching experience and vast DMV connections, David Cox joined Kevin Willard’s staff March 28.
Cox comes to Maryland after serving as the head coach at Rhode Island for four seasons. Before that, Cox was an associate head coach at Rhode Island and Rutgers, assistant coach at Georgetown and director of operations at Pittsburgh.
The DMV native has also coached both high school and AAU basketball in the local area and arrives in College Park with deep local recruiting ties.
“We are thrilled that David is joining our staff at Maryland,” said Willard. “He grew up right near our campus and has tons of connections to the DMV. He brings a wealth of experience as a head coach and more than 20 years on the sidelines in the Northeast. He has developed some of the best players in the Big East and Atlantic 10 and we are excited for him to make a major impact with the Terrapin basketball program. It's great that we get to welcome him and his family home to Maryland.”
“I am humbled and honored to be able to come home to Maryland and be a part of the Terp family,” said Cox. “I grew up in Landover, Len Bias’ hometown. I went to games at Cole and Comcast Center and coached many future Terps over the years. I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of the staff with Kevin. This is a great fit and we can’t wait to get to work recruiting and developing the future stars of Maryland basketball.”
Cox won 64 games as head coach of the Rams from 2018-22 and was one of 20 coaches included on HereSports.com’s list of candidates for National Coach of the Year in 2020. With a record of 13-5 in league play in the 2019-20 season, Cox tied for the third-most conference wins in a season in Rhode Island history. Future Terp, then-Ram Fatts Russell earned Atlantic 10 First Team All-Conference and All-Defensive Team honors, while senior Jeff Dowtin was a third-team selection. Dowtin also earned Academic All-Conference honors for the third straight season.
Russell, who transferred to and played for the Terps in 2021-22, was a two-time All-Atlantic 10 selection under Cox and established himself as one of the best players in Rhode Island history. Russell is 13th in scoring all-time with 1,594 points and holds the Rams program steals record with 213.
Despite inheriting a team that had lost six seniors who went on to play professional basketball. Cox led Rhode Island to an 18-15 record, including a 9-9 mark in Atlantic 10 action in 2018-19. He was named as one of 12 national finalists for the 2019 Joe B. Hall Award, which is presented annually to the top first-year coach in Division I. The Rams advanced to the A-10 semifinals, upsetting top-seeded VCU in the quarterfinals. Junior forward Cyril Langevine earned Second Team All-Conference honors and a spot on the league’s All-Defensive Team. Junior Jeff Dowtin was named to the Academic All-Conference Team.
Cox was named as head coach in 2018 after four seasons as an assistant coach on Dan Hurley’s staff with URI. The final two of those seasons were spent as the team’s associate head coach. Cox joined the Rhode Island staff in May, 2014 after spending the previous four seasons as an associate head coach at Rutgers.
The Rams made two NCAA Championship appearances and one NIT appearance with Cox as an assistant coach, advancing to the second round all three times. Rhode Island also claimed the program’s first Atlantic 10 regular-season title in 2018 and its second conference tournament title in 2017.
In November of 2017, Cox was ranked as the No. 23 assistant coach in the country by LockDraft.com. Over his first three seasons with the Rams, the team had gone 65-35 with a pair of postseason appearances. In 2016-17, Rhode Island made its first NCAA Championship appearance since 1999, upsetting Creighton in the opening round before falling just short against eventual Final Four participant Oregon in the second round. In Cox’ first season in Rhode Island, the Rams went to the 2015 NIT and made it to the second round.
During his time at URI, Cox was instrumental in the recruitment of Indiana transfer Stanford Robinson, Jeff Dowtin, Michael Tertsea and Russell. He was the primary recruiter for the 2018 class, which was ranked as a Top-25 class nationally.
While at Rutgers from 2010-14, Cox was the Scarlet Knights’ associate head coach, helping the program recruit the 15th-best class in 2011. He served as the interim head coach for a three-game stint in December 2012, leading Rutgers to a 3-0 record.
From 2007-10, Cox served as an assistant at Georgetown, helping to guide the Hoyas to a trio of post-season appearances. In 2007-08, Georgetown compiled a 28-6 overall record en route to winning the Big East Championship and earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The 2009-10 Hoya squad also won 28 games and en route to an NCAA Tournament appearance. Cox entered the college ranks as the director of basketball operations at Pittsburgh for the 2006-07 season and was part of the Panthers’ staff that went 29-8 and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
Cox first coached at the high school level at Archbishop Carroll in Washington, D.C. from 1996-99. He spent the next seven years as an assistant principal at his alma mater, St. John’s Prep in Washington, D.C. from 1999-2006, where he oversaw the school’s athletic department, supervised all extra-curricular activities and served as the school’s head of discipline.
Cox began his coaching career as an assistant coach with the Washington D.C. Assault AAU program. He helped guide the team to the under-16 national championship in 2004. Several of his players earned college scholarships, including Tre Kelley (South Carolina), Chris McCray (Maryland), Michael Beasley (Kansas State/Miami Heat), Nolan Smith (Duke), Dante Cunningham (Villanova/Portland Trail Blazers), Arinze Onuaku (Syracuse) and Adrian Bowie (Maryland).
A 1995 graduate of William & Mary with a degree in sociology, Cox was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter at point guard for the Tribe for head coaches Chuck Swenson and Charlie Woollum. He finished his collegiate career with 670 points, 216 rebounds, 336 assists and a .352 3-point field goal percentage and his name is located throughout the Tribe’s record book. Cox still ranks among school leaders in several statistical categories, including 3-point field goals made (sixth, 137), total assists (eighth, 336); and 3-point field goal percentage (ninth, .352). His career-high 12 assists against George Mason in 1995 still ranks third among all-time single-game performances in W&M basketball history.
In 1996, Cox earned his master’s degree in education from William & Mary. He and his wife Tasha have two children, Leila and Jacob.